A heartfelt entreaty:

It may as well be winter in New England right now, so I suppose it's about time to post my heartfelt entreaty. Winter is a difficult season for all commuters, no doubt, but the people who get the most screwed over by this season are pedestrians and cyclists.

These are the facts about you, the average commuter who rides in a car to work every morning:

1. You have the right to clear roads if it's not snowing an inch or more an hour.


2. Unless your car has serious problems, you are somewhere warm and your tender flesh is safe from snow, wind, freezing rain and other awful winter conditions.


3. No one yells, honks or otherwise gets pissed at you if you use the safest route to get to your destination.

Pedestrians and cyclists do not have it so well.

1. People shovel their sidewalks when they damn well please. In Massachusetts, you can be fined for not shoveling your sidewalk, but this either rarely happens, or is not enough of an incentive for property owners to break out the shovels.


2. There is no way to completely insulate yourself from the elements. Parts of your face are always exposed. Hoods interfere with peripheral vision.


3. Cyclists always get shit for riding in the street (where they legally have the right to be), regardless of the time of year. Bike lanes (where they do exist) tend to be full of snow and ice that was pushed aside for cars. Per item #1 in this list, pedestrians don't have anywhere safe to walk. Snow that isn't shoved freezes into a solid block of ice (footprints become wonderful little ankle-snapping holes), and even shoveled sidewalks become wet and freeze over due to melting snow. It is not safe to walk in the street, and forcing a pedestrian to walk on the shoulder of the road is unacceptable. And yet, I was forced to walk on the shoulder of a highway nearly every day last winter.

I therefore propose the following principles that are easy to incorporate into your day-to-day life:

1. Shovel your damn sidewalk. You should be doing this anyway. If you are unable to maintain the sidewalk in front of the property you own, you are responsible for hiring someone else to do it. If you can't afford to hire someone, then you surely cannot afford to pay a fine for not shoveling, and you certainly cannot afford a lawsuit if I break my leg on your property due to your negligence. Suck it up and throw $20 at the neighbor's kid. It would be really, really nice if you could scatter some sand at the bottom of your driveway if it is not level with the road. Ice accumulates here and slippery, unlevel surfaces are difficult to walk on.


2. Cut people a break. You move a hell of a lot faster than someone on a bike does, and even faster than someone who's walking. If there's snow on the ground, that means it's cold outside. You can wait another 10 seconds while someone crosses in front of your nice warm car.


3. See item #2. Give pedestrians the right of way, and respectfully share the road with your fellow vehicle users -- the cyclists. Additionally, keep your speed low when conditions are icy, so you don't hit someone in the crosswalk, or hit the guy on the bike just over the hill in front of you. You are supposed to do this anyway; this shouldn't be a modification of your habits. If I'm ice skating down the shoulder of the road because the town of Newton can't be bothered to clear their sidewalks, I already know I'm walking in the street. Once again, I know I'm in the street; you honking at me doesn't tell me anything I don't already know. Next time you see someone walking in the street, take a look at the sidewalk; reasonable people do not prefer to walk where they could get hit by a skidding car.

These three rules can be condensed into one rule:

1. Don't be an asshole.