Smash course

187) The main thing when crossing the street is to not get hit by a car.

188) The other main thing when crossing the street is to not wait any longer than necessary.

189) To wait longer than necessary is worse than to get hit by a car.**

190) Neither negative outcome - getting hit by a car or waiting longer than necessary - is acceptable.

191) There are no "odds" or "chances". There is only what you do and the consequences that this actually has. It doesn't matter that 60% of people who cross busy intersections without waiting for the right-of-way die painful deaths. The only thing that is relevant is what happens when YOU cross the busy intersection. Since waiting for the intersection to clear is worse than getting hit and dying a painful death, you bolt out into traffic and you reach the other side very quickly, and you only waited a few seconds for the perfect chance to bolt into traffic. The odds of you dying a painful death did not effect this outcome. You are on the other side of the street now, and you did not wait. You also did not get hit by a car.

192) There are no odds when it comes to waiting for the right-of-way. To wait for that right-of-way is to guarantee the worst outcome.

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** An able-bodied male can react to an impending collision and avoid injury. In 1996 or 1997, I was hit by a mail truck and slammed out into the middle of a busy street. I got on my bike and kept going. The next year my friend Will did the same thing - and we spent all day running from the cops. My friend Matt Jones has been hit by several cars while traveling by bicycle. He refuses to yield. Maximin hit the ground hard after colliding with a car in 2008 - he regrets the stupidity of trying to hurt the ground like that. Getting hit by a car is far from the end of the world. Spending your life waiting for the intersection to clear, is.