San Diego wants to kill you (if you walk)

San Diego, especially it seems north San Diego, is one of the worst places to be a pedestrian. Many places without sidewalks, crosswalks, very wide divided streets, etc…

But the worst part of all is the following. Someone had the bright idea that a crosswalk should exist on only 3 sides of an intersection instead of 4. Now, it is possible to go from any point to any point, but it can take very long. Sometimes you need to cross a busy street 3 times just to cross at one point (if you want to do it legally). I am not sure what is the advantage to the cars, but I assume the advantage is very minor. This means that you force a pedestrian to cross more crosswalks OR to jaywalk. That doesn’t seem like a way to improve safety, nor to reduce driving (you know to reduce carbon footprint, etc…) San Diego is apparently among the most dangerous places for a pedestrian. I think I know why. I think the city council hates pedestrians.

Not that the streets here are optimized for cars either. There are so many divided streets, no u-turn signs, etc… If you miss a turn in San Diego you might be likely to drive quite a lot longer (especially in rush hour). Or in some parts, just getting to a store that just happens to be on the other side of a divided street can be an operation involving several traffic lights and breaking a few rules.