Editorial

Why did the student cross the street?

Sarah Bruce - Arts & Entertainment Editor

To get to the other side.

I was running late for school and needed a shortcut. So on this, cold winter day when I had an assignment due five minutes ago, I jaywalked.

I can see the school from my house, and yet I have to walk up to the intersection, at McGill and Summit, to cross the street while cutting across saves me at least ten minutes.

There have been rumours of a pedestrian bridge for as long as I have gone to TRU. Five years later, there is a new road leading up to the school, but no new bridge. It is obvious drivers are held in higher regard than the pedestrians.

With no cars in sight I figured it was safe enough and ignoring the warning sign about the $121 fine, I looked both ways and crossed.

With no cars coming either way, my only crime is crossing the street.

But, nonetheless, a crime it was, or so I was told when the officer stepped out of his ghost car and asked me where I was going.

“To class,” I replied, not really stopping. There was an uneasy lurch in my gut, but I ignored it.

No one actually gets jaywalking tickets I rationalized as I continued my rushed hike to class.

“I’m going to have to write this up,” the cop answered with a smug grin. “I’ll need a piece of ID.”

“You have got to be kidding me!” I replied, the words coming out before I could stop myself.

Looking behind me I noticed another set of students crossing the road right in front of the cop’s eyes. “What about them!” I asked, knowing my voice was rising with every word.

I crossed the road! That’s all I did, since when should this be a crime?

“Have you ever been fishing?” he asked, his eyes focused on the slip of paper he was writing on.

“Yes. Why?” I asked. I was angry now. Why would he bother me with such a trivial question? I didn’t have $121 to pay some damn ticket. I was a starving student, surely he knew who his criminals were when he got into his car this morning on assignment. Students who just needed to get to school and to feed themselves. I could buy two weeks of groceries for this kind of money.

“You can’t catch them all,” he interrupted my thoughts bringing me back to his fishing metaphor.

“What if they jump in your boat?” I glared, my voice low.

His eyes flickered up from his paper for the first time since writing down my information. “Are you questioning my authority?” he asked in a threatening voice.

I was silent after that. But secretly I was.

There is a new road for drivers, but no bridge for pedestrians; this seems like a really bad time for pedestrians who have no chance of been given more consideration than drivers.

There are real criminals out there, and not ones that simply cross the street. He should have spent his time doing something more productive.

There are some bad drivers in Kamloops that run lights, cut other drivers off and generally act as if they own the road. The problem is not the pedestrians.