I was visiting Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA this past weekend and got a firm talking to from a police officer…for what you ask? Crossing a street in a crosswalk.

Here is what happened: I got to a crosswalk and waited a moment as a couple cars drove by, none acknowledged my existence. I admit, I was a bit impatient and figured if I stepped off the curb they would yield…so I did. The first car stopped, I proceeded to cross, though none of the cars in the second lane were stopping. Here I am clearly standing in the middle of the crosswalk and both lanes begin moving again. I decided I’d push on and make it to the other side of the street. After exiting the crosswalk and continuing with my day a police officer yells “Hey, I want to have a word with you” and as expected, EVERY CAR YIELDED TO HIM as he marches across the street to meet me.

He then proceeds to speak to me like I’m 13 years old, going on about how pedestrians have the right of way but “that doesn’t matter”. He explained that cars don’t need to stop unless I’m 50% through the crosswalk…which isn’t entirely true, and how I should be happy he can tell me this here (very loudly in front of everyone) instead of the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital. I just kind of nodded because it felt more like this officer wanted to teach me a lesson and flex his authority than actually you know…do his job and pull over any of the vehicles that broke the law as I tried to legally cross a street.

I unfortunately didn’t get his name, but since he seems to have it mixed up I hope he finds this so he can understand why he’s doing it wrong:

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 89: Section 11: 

Section 11. When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if need be so to yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk marked in accordance with standards established by the department of highways if the pedestrian is on that half of the traveled part of the way on which the vehicle is traveling or if the pedestrian approaches from the opposite half of the traveled part of the way to within 10 feet of that half of the traveled part of the way on which said vehicle is traveling.

No driver of a vehicle shall pass any other vehicle which has stopped at a marked crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross, nor shall any such operator enter a marked crosswalk while a pedestrian is crossing or until there is a sufficient space beyond the crosswalk to accommodate the vehicle he is operating, notwithstanding that a traffic control signal may indicate that vehicles may proceed.

So the question here is, was I being a jerk for crossing the street and forcing vehicles to yield to my right of way, or are the drivers who didn’t bother obeying a simple law and yielding for 5 seconds being jerks? I guess we’ll never know, so let’s just say this Cambridge Police Officer is jerk and call it a day.