Anyone who lives and owns a car and actually drives this car regularly in Chicago will eventually become one of two types of drivers:
Type A: CityManiacRacerX
The virtual inability to get anywhere fast in the city can drive a person crazy. The traffic will push this driver over the edge to the point where certain traffic laws no longer apply (who wants to wait 5 minutes at a No Turn On Red at 3am with no other cars for miles?) The inability to find anywhere to park will force you to do spin-outs Dukes Of Hazzard style to get that spot on the other side of the street. And eventually this driver will be pushed to the point of fantasizing about running over pedestrians.
Type B: GoodCitizenCautiousDriver
These people are good drivers (or they think they are) They drive the speed limit and are cautious about handling their vehicles. They come to complete stops at stop signs and sometimes even slow down before going through an intersection for safety. CityManiacRacerX hates this driver. GoodCitizenCautiousDriver keeps GoodCitizenCautiousDriver from getting anywhere in a timely manner.
It's probably obvious by now which type I am. I admit. But the city made me do it. You literally can't go anywhere in less than 20 minutes. That is THE mininum travel time no matter what the distance. And if it's Saturday afternoon, double that.
I was reminded of my hatred of some pedestrians the other night while attempting to travel through the city. I could list the types of pedestrians but it would take too long and make me too angry. But no matter which subclass pedestrians in Chicago fall under, most are in the same superclass - the ImAPedestrianAndHaveTheRightOfWaySoDontEvenThinkOfHittingMeWithYourCarEvenWhenImCrossing AgainstTheLight pedestrians. So I was in the left turn lane, which happened to have a left turn light - something badly needed at more lights in the city. The light turned green. The experienced CityManiacRacerX's in front of me immediately took off, knowing that left turn lights are rare and when we are blessed to have them they only last 1.467 seconds. I know I tend to exaggerate on my rants but I'm willing to bet money I'm accurate on this to within 0.001 seconds. So we are actually making it through the light only to be stopped by THE IDIOT PEDESTRIANS WHO ARE CROSSING AGAINST THE LIGHT SO WE HAVE TO STOP BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO STOP AND NOW WE ARE BLOCKING TRAFFIC AND SOME OF THESE PEDESTRIANS ACTUALLY HAVE THE NERVE TO YELL AT US WHEN WE TRY TO INCH THROUGH THE HERD! I swear, it's like these people have never driven before and completely forgot how frustrating it can me to make a turn in this city. It just makes me so mad when people refuse to let the cars through. They can clearly see that it's causing a traffic jam. But they're pedestrians and they have the right of way and exercise that right even when they're technically breaking the law.
Now I don't want to be a hypocrite. Of course I've been the pedestrian as much or more than I've been CityManiacRacerX. But I do try to put myself in the driver's seat and pay attention to whether or not I have the right to block a car. I actually witnessed people crossing against the light as a car was approaching and they didn't even pay attention to the fact that the car should have run them over. So I was actually glad to read a few weeks ago that the city is considering giving out jaywalking tickets to people downtown during working hours. And I certainly understand. There are plenty of pedestrians who really deserve it. They don't consider how much traffic they cause. It would be nice if we could put the sidewalks above the streets, or vice versa.