Is a 'view through the windshield' all that's left now? What about walking?

I've been walking -- for fitness and life -- all winter. Went for a five-miler yesterday, and got snowed on heavily from the midpoint on back to home. I'm a sucker for any article in most any mainstream media outlet having to do with walking. And that's walking for transportation, walking to see what America now looks like, and walking for fitness and health. Read this piece from the NY Times. Doing so made me think of the hundreds of times I wait and wait for a pedestrian "go" light to shine green.