In the crosswalk or the crosshairs?

Sad to say, but some apologies are in order here today.

Yep, although I've written (a few years back, mind you) about how you take your chances in the crosswalks around the Putnam County Courthouse in hoping that vehicles approaching will stop but knowing full well they likely won't.

I've always likened being a pedestrian in the crosswalks on the U.S. 231 sides of the courthouse to playing highway hokey-pokey. You know, you put your left in. You put your left foot out. You put you left foot in. And you shake it all about.

It's the real-like embodiment of how that song continues: You do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around.

Believe me, I've been that deer-in-the-headlights guy more than once as I stepped out into the crosswalk but found myself in the crosshairs of a car or truck barreling around the square instead.

But earlier this week I found myself on the other end of this inequitable equation.

It was right about noon as I was driving back to the office via the north side of the square, with all the little quirks of Franklin Street seemingly behind me (the corner at Indiana where three sides stop, the backward logic of Vine and Franklin and the weird Arlington Street intersections, for example) .

With the top down on the Spyder as the rain had finally ceased for a while, I was passing Don Julio's, the Mexican restaurant, when out of the corner of my eye, I spied the tail lights come alive on a white pickup that appeared to be backing out of a parking space on the north side of the square. Still east of the crosswalk, I was barely cognizant of it when out of the corner of my left eye, I spied three or four nicely dressed women, stepping into crosswalk from the north side of the courthouse.

Rules of the road call for me to stop as soon as that occurs. After all, pedestrians have the right of way in such instances, although as a pedestrian seldom am I brave enough to assume so.

Instead, making a split-second decision to power past the backpedaling truck and not stop to be speared by it, I actually accelerated through the crosswalk.

Instantly I thought how rude that must have seemed. How, to those ladies just starting across to Almost Home for lunch, it may have seemed I was too good to wait for them to safely navigate the crosswalk.

Honestly, I offered an embarrassingly little wave toward them, hoping they'd realize my civil disobedience was merely a bit of self-preservation.

But still I knew it was wrong. And I let that bother me the rest of the day.

So when I had to go to court the next day to cover a couple of criminal cases, I found myself in the pedestrians' position while entering the crosswalk in front of Horizon Business Center.

I wanted to step out and go, but instinct made me resist. And that was a good thing.

The first driver glanced my way, but it was more likely to ogle the young women on the sidewalk behind me. A woman on her cell phone seemed to be looking everywhere but straight ahead, which actually made me take a step backward toward the curb. Good thing, too, as a carload of teenagers blew right through the zebra-striped pavement oblivious to anything and everything.

Indiana traffic law states that when you are behind the wheel, you have a duty to "drive with care around pedestrians within a crosswalk by slowing down or otherwise ensuring their safety when approaching."

Drivers, you understand, must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing via any marked crosswalk.

The proper technique is to stop your vehicle in front of the crosswalk and allow pedestrians to cross the street before proceeding further.

Yeah, like that ever happens around here.

I know when I'm driving, I'm afraid that although I might stop, the vehicle right behind me -- quite likely a big truck rumbling through downtown or someone not paying full attention -- might run right up my bumper.

So I'm just not sure which I'd rather be in that predicament, pedestrian or motorist.

Sometimes you're the windshield. Sometimes you're the bug.

You can get crushed either way in the crosswalk.

So, let me say again, ladies, I'm sorry. And to all of you, let's be a little more careful out there ...