“Look both ways before crossing the street” doesn’t just keep you safe; it keeps everyone safe.

In general, pedestrians are supposed to have the right of way. We’ve already ceded so much space to cars that allowing us to cross the road is literally the least they could do.

That said, this is a two-way street (sometimes literally). If you’re going to cross, you should look both ways not only to ensure that you’re not going to get hit by a car, but to be positive that no one will have to slam on their brakes and cause an incident.

The latter is exactly what happened here.