Man in Yellow: A Poem About Safer and Slower Streets in Jericho, Vermont

 A reflection on pedestrians, drivers, and the responsibility we share for safer streets. In a town where many of us walk, bike, and drive the same roads each day, this poem is an invitation to slow down and look out for each other.

“Man in Yellow”

  by Bernie Paquette

Hello Jericho, you wonder why I always dress in yellow

Why you never see dark clothes on this fellow

And why does my appearance seem to have a cautionary tale

Dressed like Big Bird, there’s a reason for what I have on

I wear yellow for the kids and their friends

playin’ ball, throwing snowballs till the day ends

I wear it for the moms and dads who love ‘em

and trust they will come home safely to them

I wear the yellow for those who don’t look twice

Or don’t get across quite quickly enough

to chase down that ball, not knowing

Getting there and back is a roll of the dice

Well, we’re doin’ might fine, you might suppose

In our fast-moving cars, and pedal-heavy toes

But just so we’re reminded of the ones who don’t make it across

In Jericho, there ought’a be a Man in Yellow

I wear it for the 6 pedestrians and 1 bicyclist who die 

on the VT. roads each year, and the 130 hospitalized

For the hurried drivers whose speed is a bad trip

I wear the yellow for sad times a’coming our way

when speed limits and bones are smashed

I wear yellow to reflect on the pedestrian fatalities in Jericho 

69% of pedestrian fatalities occur in rural areas

Yellow because a pedestrian who is hit by a car going 30 miles per hour

Has a 40% chance of being killed

I wear yellow and walk cautiously because

Twenty-two cars a day travel at 50 mph or higher

A pedestrian hit by a car going 50 miles per hour or above has an almost 100% likelihood of dying

Took off my yellow coat for

A hump a day keeps the speeders at bay

Still believing the most powerful safety tool

Isn’t concrete, it’s Caring for each other

But our hump is gone

For a bump is too much, a price to pay

The loss struck a blow

Once again, our streets are not slow

They say that change doesn’t always start with a grand gesture

Sometimes, it starts with a conversation in your neighborhood

Sometimes it starts with a yellow coat wail

A cautionary tale

I wear yellow and stand as tall as Big Bird

for the children, the elderly, bicyclists, and walkers

To remind us that traffic engineers design cues into the roadways that 

Spur people into changing their behavior without realizing it

Well, there are a lot of people in this world not caring, I know

And things need changin’ even in our small town

But ‘till we cross that great divide to come together

‘Till we slow down to confirm we care, I’m the man in yellow

I’d love to walk our roads in Jericho

All dressed in green and black, and not aglow

But our streets are not safe and they are not slow

’Til speeds are calmer, I’m the man in yellow

 

 Sponsored by 

CASSS

Caring About Safer and Slower Streets

Laugh, Dream, Try, and Do Good

- Bernie

Read The Old Man and the Yellow Turtle

Every Thursday at 4 pm, the old man opened his car door, its shining yellow a testimony to his regimented polishing, slid into the driver's seat...