What's the rush?

When I cross the street at an intersection that has a crosswalk, and a driver wants to make a turn that would involve going across the crosswalk that I’m using, I quite often find that the driver wants to make that turn before I’ve finished crossing. In other words, once I’m past the portion of lane he wants to turn into, he wants to make his move.

Now, while the Highway Traffic Act (section 140(2)) seems to indicate it’s okay for drivers to do that, I feel it’s not a good idea for them to make their turn that soon. When I was taking driver’s ed, I was taught that you should always wait for the pedestrian to finish crossing before making your turn.

The rationale for this is simple. As a driver--heck, as a human being separate from the pedestrian--you can’t read his mind. How do you know he won’t suddenly decide to turn around while he’s in the middle of crossing the street? For example, he might suddenly remember something he forgot to get at whatever store he last visited. If he turns around while he’s in the middle of crossing, and you’re starting to make your turn, either you’re liable to hit him because he’s suddenly in front of your car again, or he’s in danger of being hit by some other car because you’re keeping him from making it all the way back to the corner that he started from.

Just because someone has a license to drive, that doesn’t mean they have a license to be impatient.