A pedestrian is someone who moves on foot.
Pedestrian is a term whose etymological origin takes us to piéton , a French word. A pedestrian is an individual who moves on foot through an outdoor public space, that is, who does not use any type of vehicle.
For example: "This road is exclusively for pedestrians" , "The accident left a pedestrian injured" , "We need more pedestrians on the streets and fewer cars: this way there will be less pollution " .
When it comes to a closed infrastructure such as a shopping center or a sports hall, those who walk through it are not usually classified as pedestrians, since they are not spaces suitable for the circulation of vehicles (and, therefore, everyone inside them is pedestrians). ).
Pedestrians in modern cities
Walking is the most sustainable transportation: it is free and does not cause polluting emissions. Pedestrians, on the other hand, take care of their health and improve their physical condition when walking.
Despite these issues, modern cities often fail to protect pedestrians or encourage walking. Pedestrian streets are few compared to those designed for motor vehicles.
It is worth mentioning that pedestrian streets not only encourage physical exercise but also provide a space for gatherings of friends and family who want to spend a quiet time, walking outdoors and observing their surroundings at a less frenetic pace than that characteristic of the city. modern life.
In traffic, pedestrians have priority over vehicles.
Use of motor vehicles
Modern society depends to such an extent on motorized vehicles that in many cases it does not contemplate the possibility of walking even two hundred meters, but instead resorts to its car or the most convenient means of public transportation, even though this considerably multiplies the travel time .
To contrast the attempts of governments to encourage exercise and reduce the number of vehicles on the streets, it often happens that in large public spaces such as shopping centers there are no places to park bicycles or, something even more difficult to understand, pedestrian access. ; This proves that when designing the plans for these buildings it was considered that no one would access them on foot , or that the number of pedestrians would be so small that it was not worth taking them into account.
It should be noted, however, that pedestrians can only travel short distances and at low speed, unlike those who travel by means of transport. The pedestrian cannot carry much weight either. For this reason, it is common for no one to be a pedestrian in all the trips they usually make, but rather the walk is usually complemented by trips in some type of vehicle (be it a private car, a bus or bus, a train, etc.).
Pedestrian rights
Depending on current legislation, it is known that in some cities the pedestrian has a series of rights and receives consideration from the judicial system that favors him over drivers in the event of an accident , even when it comes to fraudulent situations. This leads many people to make the incredible decision of becoming victims of abuse (taking certain measures to receive the least possible damage) and then taking their alleged aggressor to court to obtain financial benefits.
In this sense, the pedestrian occupies a place in society similar to the woman: on the one hand, there are movements to highlight her importance, to protect her figure even to the detriment of her "antagonist" (be it the man or the driver, respectively). ); but at the same time the great monsters (machismo and the automotive industry , among others) consider them obstacles in their path and do everything possible to get them out of the way.