Last
Does this bug you as it does me? The Boston Globe recently reported that
the Boston Police are running a sting operation to catch unsuspecting motorists.
Police officers, dressed in plain-clothes stand in a cross walk and ticket
motorists who do not stop to let the pedestrian cross. They're attacking
the problem entirely from the wrong perspective. Allow me to paraphrase
this curmudgeon's letter to the editor of The Globe.
The Boston Pedestrian Safety
Task Force reported that their study showed that 96% of drivers yielded
to pedestrians who had the right of way, BUT only 12% of the pedestrians
crossed with the "Walk" signal.
If we motorists are expected
to obey traffic signals, pedestrians should be held no less responsible
for their illegal actions. The Globe cites a "Crosswalk Culture" (promulgated
by the police explaining "basic rules of driving in the city") that says,
"motorists have the 'right of way' with a green light and a 'Don't Walk'
signal for pedestrians." Does that mean I have the right to drive through
a group of illegally crossing pedestrians? Don't think I haven't wanted
to many times. I can't count the number of times I've tried to assert my
driving right of way without injuring a pedestrian only to be verbally
abused and have my car (never the Porsche) beat with a fist as though I'm
in the wrong!
If fines for pedestrians
crossing a street against the "Walk" signal were as high as for a motorist
not yielding to a correctly crossing pedestrian, and the situation was
enforced, not only would local jurisdictions be rolling in new funds but
the situation would correct itself.
Member Profile of the Month
Steve Artick is another of
the many un-sung, hard working Northeast Region members who keep the club
on track...and, in fact, at the track for the rest of us to enjoy. In the
clubs periodic change of committee personnel, Steve found himself on the
Track Committee and Director of Track Operations. We only get to see him
at the track running around like a headless chicken keeping everything
running as smoothly as possible. Truthfully, he always appears outwardly
to be very calm, cool and collected...inside, only he knows.
The Artick's '95 993 was
their entry into the world of Porsches. Steve had always been a very sensible,
no frills kind of guy where motor vehicles were concerned. But back in
some corner of the gray matter (that same corner we all had at one time)
lurked the idea of some day having a Porsche, and it was only that marque,
nothing else.
When I asked Steve if a "mid-life
crises" had been the instigating factor prompting the acquisition his response
was "...not really, I like to think of it as a mid-life reward." What an
apropos response, think about that, 'mid-life reward".
When Steve bought the 993
from a dealer, he saw a PCA decal on another car, asked about it, and promptly
joined the club. Reading in his first Panorama about Driver's Ed he thought
it would be a good idea to learn more about driving his new Porsche so
he signed up for a NNJ event at NHIS. Apparently, the NOR'EASTERs hadn't
reached him yet. You've never seen one as surprised as Steve was when he
got to NHIS, as he was expecting a day of classroom education. After scrambling
to borrow a helmet and catch up with other necessities required at the
track, he was hooked...another track junkie in the region.
Steve's early working career
was in the mutual fund industry, eventually moving to Fidelity Investments.
He and Diane were avid skiers at the time; you may well ask "how avid?"
Well, not many of us follow our dreams as they did, moving to Utah where
they worked and skied for four years. Moving back to their Boston home
area he moved into the software field where he eventually co-founded the
company he's with now. Steve is VP of Business Development for Shym, involved
with software security.
Steve and Diane's teenager,
Jennifer...she prefers Jen, is a champion figure skater. Jen has competed
for several years at the regional level and medaled in many events. She
just returned from a St. Louis event skating against other regional medallists.
One way to stump Jen is to ask her preference between figure skating and
anticipating driving a Porsche at the track. She is a true non-driving
track junkie, already counting the days until she is 18 and old enough
to drive on the track and written an article for the NOR'EASTER about her
impressions of Drivers' Ed at NHIS. She certainly won't make the same mistake
as her Dad the first day she drives at NHIS.
We all know that Diane has
her hands full being a committed skater's Mom and all that entails. But
she also works as much as she can with a real estate developer in Lexington.
And then there is the track; talk about a junkie (track, that is) family.
Several years back, Diane tried Drivers' Ed and for whatever reason, it
didn't click with her. Then, all of a sudden last year, Bingo, everything
clicked and she is now 'with the program', also joining the early morning
Tech Inspection Crew.
It must be true, a family
that drives together at the track, stays together.
Membership
Some of you have asked about
a member directory, saying that you'd like to know who are the other 1,518
people in the Northeast Region. The reason this is not done is for privacy
and security reasons. Over the years, many members have told the Board
that they did not want their name and address etc. published and made public.
Remember, Irving Fisher,
Professor of Economics at Yale said in 1929, "Stocks have reached what
looks like a permanently high plateau." |
