To the editor:

Since it’s Thanksgiving week, I thought it only appropriate to express gratitude. I’m thankful for being alive. Monday evening, crossing Massachusetts at Seventh street when the pedestrian signal flashed, I walked into the crosswalk. A woman turning onto Massachusetts sped right toward me. Through her open window as she flew past, I pointed out that I was walking in a crosswalk. She yelled back that she knew what it was. Why then, I wondered, did she violate the rule about crosswalks? Why then did the man in the car behind her roll down his window and say, “Shut up and cross” as if I had no right to be frightened, angry even?

Where there is a posted crosswalk or when a pedestrian signal is lit, the pedestrian always has the right of way. Period. Experiences like these are a frequent reminder of how imperative it is that the City of Lawrence adopt a Complete Streets Policy. Everyone who travels under his or her own power — children, the disabled, the elderly, the able-bodied — has a right to safe travel.

Kelly Barth,

Lawrence