Almost got hit by a truck at lunchtime.
I was crossing West Burnside at 10th Ave in front of Powell’s Books. There were some other people crossing in the opposite direction (south to north), and I looked up and saw the “White man says ‘walk'” sign, so I stepped out into the street. As soon as I did, the signal changed to the flashing orange hand.
There were a couple of cars waiting for the pedestrians to clear, and I waited for a second while two cars turned left onto Burnside. A large panel truck was behind them, he slowed a bit and I figured that he was going to let me go because I was standing out in the middle of the street. So I started walking.
I guess the truck was just slowing down for the turn, though, because he kept coming. I looked up through the windshield to see if the driver was looking for me, and couldn’t tell. I was still walking and he was still coming…
I thought, “What a dork!” but kept going (I’m stubborn at the most inopportune times) and so did he. I had to break into a run, and dodge into the eastbound lane to get out of his way.
He never even slowed down. I don’t think he even saw me.