There's an old-fashioned concept called comity. Loosely defined, it means live and let live. One of the many places it does not prevail these days is at Baltimore's street crossings.
Blind pedestrians -- distinguished by their white sticks or guide dogs -- are regularly endangered by motorists who refuse to pause a second or two to allow them to cross safely at an intersection. Advocates for the blind are seeking legislation to increase the penalties for failing to yield the right of way when traffic signals favor them.
The problem is that the blind pedestrians are not being discriminated against. Local drivers don't yield the right of way to pedestrians in general. Certainly people with impaired sight or other conditions that hinder them in making their way in either the city or suburbs deserve special consideration. The penalties should be strengthened. But, more important, they should be enforced.
Baltimore drivers are notoriously irresponsible when it comes to giving pedestrians an even break. The law says that pedestrians crossing at an intersection with the light in their favor have the right of way, even over cars making right-hand turns. Sheathed in a couple of tons of steel, motorists arrogantly disdain to defer. What's worse, the pedestrians let them. It's not uncommon for the rare driver who yields to a pedestrian when the light changes to see the pedestrian remain on the curb, doubting a motorist would really wait.
Nor is it uncommon to see these violations of the law, which carry the threat of bodily harm, to take place in plain view of police officers who do nothing. Granted, police officers have more pressing problems of public safety to worry about these days. But that doesn't condone ignoring violations of any law right under their noses. There can be no more tempting invitation to the comity-impaired to violate the law than the near certainty of getting away with it.
Yes, the General Assembly should increase the punishment for failing to grant the right of way to impaired pedestrians. Enough points to make the lesson felt in the driver's insurance premium would be appropriate. Perhaps the legislature should also raise the penalties for endangering any pedestrian, though not as severely. But neither measure would do any good if the law doesn't get enforced on the street, and judges don't levy the penalty provided by statute.