Pretekli vikend smo z družino odšli na izlet v Postojnsko jamo. Na poti smo morali skozi krožni promet s prehodom za pešce. Drugih vozil ni bilo, najbližja oseba pa je bila tekačica, ki se je približevala. Ker smo bili bliže prehodu, smo si želeli vzeti prednost in še pred njo zapeljati v krožni promet. V tistem pa je prisopihala do prehoda in skočila pred avto. Oče je z nogo naglo pohodil zavoro in se za las izognil trčenju. Ženska urnih nog nam je namenila zgolj grd pogled in stekla dalje. Pravzaprav mi je jasno, zakaj nam je namenila tak pogled, glede na to, da so nas stotinke ločile od nesreče. Moram pa reči, da mi je po eni strani stopila na živec. Le kaj je mislila?! Mislim, dejstvo je, da smo bili na prehodu za pešce prvi. Zakaj sploh tvegati nesrečo? Potem pa sem se spomnila, kaj sem opazila v prejšnjih tednih.
Pešci v Sloveniji so neverjetno prepričani o tem, da imajo na prehodu za pešce vedno prednost in da ga bodo vedno varno prečkali. Naj navedem primer: zadnjič sem videla moškega, ki je brez težav stopil na prehod, pa čeprav se mu je približevalo vozilo s hitrostjo okoli 55 kilometrov na uro. Bil je sveto prepričan, da bo voznik ustavil. Vam se to verjetno zdi normalno. Jaz pa imam navado, da gledam voznika ali voznico, in vse dokler nisem prepričana, da zares upočasnjuje, ne naredim tistega omahujočega koraka. Tam, od koder prihajam, je namreč tako obotavljanje povsem običajno in je verjetno tudi dobro za naše zdravje, če sem čisto odkrita. V Ameriki tovrstnega zaupanja med pešci in vozniki ni in imamo precej dober razlog za to. Vozniki pri nas so nekoliko bolj agresivni, ko govorimo o prehodih. Če sta pešec in avto pri prehodu hkrati, gre mimo prvi v večini primerov avto. Pešcem to resda ni všeč, ampak tako potegnemo boljši konec v že vnaprej izgubljeni bitki med človekom in čvrsto kovinsko škatlo. Verjetno si zdaj mislite, da smo v Ameriki slabi vozniki, vendar ni težava v tem. Le miselnosti voznikov in pešcev sta nekoliko drugačni. Na drugi strani, če pomislim, pa smo morebiti res samo slabi vozniki. Moji prijatelji iz Kalifornije trdijo, da so vozniki iz Utaha, mimogrede, od tam prihajam tudi sama, najslabši vozniki vseh časov. Vedno jim/nam stopim v bran, ampak mogoče imajo prav. Morda res nismo najboljši vozniki. Če se vrnem na temo: Amerika ni edina s tako mentaliteto. Pred nekaj leti sem bila v Rusiji in sem zakorakala na prehod za pešce. Oče me je hitro prijel za ovratnik majice in me potegnil nazaj. V tistem trenutku je namreč mimo ravno pripeljal avto. Mislim, v Ameriki resda nismo tako agresivni, ampak ideja je podobna: pešci svoje prednosti ne smejo jemati kot samoumevne. Če pešec v to verjame, bi kaj hitro lahko končal na drugem svetu.
V Sloveniji pa je drugače. Verjetno se kdaj zgodba razplete v drugo smer, ampak odkar sem v Sloveniji, še nikoli nisem opazila, da bi se voznik spravil nad pešca. In v tem grmu verjetno tiči zajec, zakaj si pešci take korake lahko privoščijo. V trenutku, ko na semaforju možicelj zasveti zeleno, brezskrbno stopite na cesto in se na drugo stran odpravite s počasnimi koraki (mimogrede, v Ameriki bi to razjezilo skoraj vse voznike). Kljub temu menim, da je to odlično. Ne vem sicer, koliko časa bo pri meni trajalo, da se navadim na to novo moč, za zdaj pa sem hvaležna vsakič, ko stopim na prehod in sem lahko precej prepričana, da bom na drugo stran prišla živa. Vsaj tačas, ko sem v Sloveniji. Možnosti za to so pri nas doma namreč nekoliko slabše.
Angleški izvirnik
Watch Out for American Drivers
I learned something new about the Slovenian culture this week, and it may have something to do with the fact that I almost killed someone last weekend. But before your minds wander too far, I should probably tell you what happened.
Last weekend my family went on field trip to see the Postojna caves. On our way out of town, we approached a traffic circle with a crosswalk. There were no other cars, and the closest person was a jogger that was getting close to the crosswalk. Since we were closer to the crosswalk than the jogger, we started into the traffic circle. At that point the jogger reached the crosswalk, and she, seemingly without a second thought, ran right in front of our car. My dad slammed on the brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting her, and the lady gave us a dirty look as she ran on. (I guess in retrospect I understand why she gave us the look she did, considering we were about a second away from smashing her.) For a moment I was annoyed. What was that lady thinking? I mean, obviously we were at the crosswalk first. Why did she even risk that? But then I remembered what I had been noticing for the past few weeks.
Pedestrians here in Slovenia have an incredible amount of trust in the authority of the crosswalk. For example, I once saw a man leisurely step into the crosswalk when an oncoming car was going somewhere around 55. He had all the faith in the world that the car was going to stop. For you this may seem totally normal. But before I cross the street, I stare down the driver until I’m sure the he or she is considerably slowing his or her speed, and then do a hesitant, awkward stutter-step into the crosswalk. Where I’m from, this hesitancy is totally normal—and probably healthy, to be honest. In the U.S., pedestrians and drivers share a mutual distrust of each other, and there’s good reason for this distrust. Drivers in the U.S. are a bit more aggressive when it comes to the crosswalk. If a pedestrian and a car reach the crosswalk at about the same time, most of the time the car goes first. Pedestrians don’t like it, but we also recognize that in a battle between a fleshy human and a giant metal box, the fleshy human will lose. And I know what you must be thinking—we must be absolutely terrible drivers in the U.S. But that’s not it at all. The driver-pedestrian mentality is just a little different. (On second thought, we could just be terrible drivers. All of my friends from California claim that drivers from Utah—which is where I’m from—are the worst drivers of all time. I always defend myself, but they’re right. We’re not great.) For the record, the U.S. isn’t the only country with this same mentality. A few years ago I was spending some time in Russia, and as I was about to step into the crosswalk, my dad grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled me back, just seconds before a car flew past. I mean, we’re not quite as aggressive in America, but the idea is essentially the same: pedestrians probably shouldn’t assume the right of way. A pedestrian who does this could very quickly become a dead pedestrian.
Here in Slovenia, however, that isn’t the case at all. I’m sure it happens, but since I’ve been here, I haven’t once seen a car bully a pedestrian. And the pedestrians take full advantage of this. The second that little walking man turns green, you step out into that crosswalk without a care in the world. And then you walk to the other side just about as slowly as you’d like (which would drive just about every driver in America crazy, by the way). But I think it’s great. I don’t know how long it will take me to get used to this newfound power, but for now I’m thankful that every time I step out into the crosswalk, I feel pretty confident that I’ll make it to the other side alive. At least while I’m here in Slovenia, that is. I think my chances are much worse back home.
