Fair enough - I was being a little sensationalist in expressing "relevant article", but . . . Brooks uses it as an example, but I'm not seeing the metaphor.

Fair enough - I was being a little sensationalist in expressing "relevant article", but . . . Brooks uses it as an example, but I'm not seeing the metaphor. He uses the crosswalk as an example of how people put too much faith in safety systems. The example is flawed because crosswalks are not (well-designed) safety systems given that drivers can't see them. "The world is a crosswalk . . . ?"