yesterday a woman sat on her stoop in NE dc, watching her six-year-old daughter cross the street. the girl was not in a crosswalk.

the girl was killed by a hit and run driver. the mother told the washington post:

“My baby is gone,” said Crysta’s mother, Christina Spencer. It happened, she said, “because somebody had to do a hit and run.”

Spencer said she was watching from the stoop of the family home on Sixth Street as her daughter tried to cross.

at 35, i still have difficulty jaywalking, even if there isn’t a car in sight. why? because when i was a preschooler and snuck down to the end of the block to cross the street without an adult, i caught holy hell from my mother. and it wasn’t just about never, ever, ever crossing without an adult, but also never, ever, ever crossing outside a crosswalk. mom was harsh. the lesson stuck.

ms. spencer, i’m sorry for your loss. but while the driver was the proximate cause of your daughter’s death, it’s possible she’d still be alive if you’d taught her what my mother taught me. what kind of parent sits on the stoop and allows her six year old to cross the street alone, in the middle of the street?

update: i’m not alone in this opinion, it seems.