24th and Capp--stop light. 25th and Capp--four way stop with stop signs.

26th and Capp. Different. No light. Two way stop. No stop signs on 26th. Traffic on 26th just goes through.

So when I read a pedestrian was killed at 26th and Capp, crossing 26th, coming home late from work, I thought I knew what happened. He walked down Capp, maybe from the BART station, was used to the cross places where the cars coming on had a stop sign, and didn't get that at this place, the cars coming on didn't have a stop sign.

In that circumstance, a walker could see a car coming and walk in front of it, thinking it was supposed to stop.

Once, in broad daylight, in another area with many four way stops, a car gave me a life-saving little toot when I did that. I thought there was a stop sign when there wasn't. This was a place where I crossed often.

I don't mean the saved my life right then. The driver who lightly tooted at me didn't come close to hitting me. The driver meant to give me information and did. And in the future many times I crossed there, I did not walk out in front of oncoming cars, which I might have, if I had continued thinking that this crossing is like the last crossing and the one before.

We can't live without rote, and we can die of rote. Knowing when to wake each other up is good. A beauty of the informative horn honk I got when I walked in from of this car without my having any right-of-way, is the honk had no anger. It really felt like, "There's something you need to know," said in a calm way.