At the crossroads

To the editor: Typical scenes in downtown Warwick: 1. The “cuckoo” signal is broken again, sounding at random every few seconds. I start to cross West Street with the green light when a woman in a small car comes whipping around the corner from Main Street, sees me and touches her brakes for a moment to prevent committing vehicular manslaughter. “Jerk!” she yells at me as she speeds down West Street. Spread the joy, lady. 2. I start to cross at the most dangerous crosswalk - the one in front of the Caffe A La Mode. Cars stop in both lanes - a miracle - when a car speeding across the tracks from Main Street pulls into the parking lane to whip around the stopped traffic, nearly nailing me. “B-word!” the driver yells at me. Nice. Why is this one the most dangerous? Because traffic going north thinks the green light at the railroad tracks pertains to the crosswalk before Railroad Avenue and traffic going south thinks they are on the on-ramp for the Indy 500 - apparently. 3. I get the green light and the crossing signal on Main Street but traffic turning left from West Street think they have the right-of-way - if they do stop without nudging me across their bumpers, cars behind them honk - I guess they want me dead. Whatever. I’ve had many lovely exchanges and near-death experiences in Warwick crosswalks. I’ve asked many times for more crosswalk markers, but get excuses about the expense and rate at which they are mown down by trucks. But notice there is always one in front of Village Hall. The bottom line is: Get some courtesy. Slow down. Consider the fragility of the human body vs. killing machines. Learn the Law. Stop honking. And remember: It’s a village. You’ll be at the other side in five minutes. Catherine Burgos Warwick