Pierce, the ONLY thing I was pointing out was that secondary to the untimely demise of said pedestrian, a few people had all but convicted the police of eating donuts and watching in amusement as she was ran down like a dog in the street. City Hall, the economic rice bowl, blah, blah, blah...
I'm no cop and never will be, but my point was/is that UNLESS YOU WERE THERE, it's no good to hype a situation and generate blame for people who may well have not had anything AT ALL to do with her very unfortunate death. Hell, according to the story, the truck driver wasn't even aware that he'd hit someone.
I'm pretty sure that any responsible citizen who possibly could've prevented this from happening, would, if they were given the chance. I most certainly would've tackled her ass (and probably gotten sued for breaking her hip!) if I would've seen she was about to get killed. God bless her, she was probably thinking about getting to work on time, things she wanted to do for her family for Christmas, etc...
I have worked with Risk Management my entire life and one thing that's almost always true, is that the first 'report' is almost always wrong and/or incomplete. And just because something's in the newspaper doesn't make it correct. Trashing people and the way they do their job based on partial, incomplete knowledge is fundamentally flawed and unfair, to say the very least. I also would be willing to bet that all those lazy cops out there working to make some extra money, are just trying to support their families like the rest of us.
Ultimately police take their orders from City Hall, and don't just go out randomly deciding where and where not to enforce codes and statutes. I merely hold THE OPINION that it's not their fault she's dead. I've biked down there and it is indeed a hazardous place, for drivers/cyclists/pedestrians. Extra caution is called for, even when you have the law on your side; even when you're using the crosswalk.
I believe when things went South was when I mentioned casually that in the two years I've been driving/biking/living here, that I see pedestrians (and drivers, too) doing whatever they want, in terms of crossing the street, interacting with other travelers of all modes. I even admitted that I, too, have been guilty of jay-walking or otherwise breaking the rules, and so have many cyclists I've personally witnessed. Apparently having a different opinion is verboten on this board, as you can tell from the enthusiastic responses I've received.
I absolutely love the cycling scene in Pittsburgh but there are definitely cities that managed to plan better, build better infrastructure for cyclists, etc. But it also seems like this organization and its supporters have been a strong voice for advocacy and that's why I paid money to join; to support the effort.
I don't have any idea where the majority of enforcement is, to answer your question. But judging from other big cities I've lived in, it almost always seems to be busy protecting the things that bring money to the city. And that is logical, and right.
I wish the lady and others like her didn't die needlessly. I've worked on many people that got hurt in some sort of motor vehicle accident and the first thing that always ran through my mind was: damn it, this person didn't have to be here, today... this is so unnecessary.
So for all the mad, angry people out there, I still think had she used a bit more caution, she would've seen the car that killed her and stopped. But she didn't, and now she's dead. it doesn't mean it's right or that I'm happy about it, I'm just being realistic about it. And shit-talking the cops doesn't help, it doesn't even make you sound or look smart...
And Pierce, thanks for maintaining an objective viewpoint. Dissecting these incidents and learning from them is so much more useful than just assigning blame and being reactionary.