Re: Overheard on the scanner

Paul Dormer <prd@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I can't picture what you are talking about here.  What do you mean
> by "pedestrian cut-through" in this context?

In a neighborhood full of dead end streets (or culs de sac, the term
preferred by people who live in them), the shortest on-road path
between two points is often *much* longer than a straight line.  The
purpose of the dead ends is to cut down on car traffic.  This works
because nobody will drive on a dead end street unless they're heading
to or from one of the few destinations on that part of that street.
There's no motorized "through traffic."

But there's no reason to discourage "through traffic" of pedestrians
or cyclists.  Quite the opposite, if the goal is to cut down on
driving in the area.  So there are often short foot paths ("cut
throughs") between two nearby dead ends that face each other, to
allow pedestrians and cyclists, but not cars, to get through.

However, in some areas there are no such foot paths, and one has to
cut through people's yards.  And sometimes there are chain link fences
to discourage that.  But in places where the only way around would
involve walking several miles in heavy traffic, such fences often tend
to have holes in them.

Google Earth is very useful for finding such holes.  You can't see the
holes, but you *can* see the unpaved unofficial foot paths that pass
through them.  Like ancient post-holes beloved of archeologists, faint
paths are often more visible from space than from the ground.

> I live in a cul-de-sac.  I'm told it's a term that causes hilarity
> when French people visiting this country see it on signs, as it
> literally means "arse of a bag".

I guess people figured it sounded better than "dead end."  The latter
reminds me of the Dead End Kids, a movie about 1930s slum-dwelling
children.
-- 
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
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