defensive walking

i think maybe if you live in an urban neighborhood, you should be required to take a defensive walking class. is there anyone else whose parents made them go to a 'defensive driving' class when they got their learner's permit?

anyway, we do live in a downtown area, so there are tons of sidewalks, pedestrians and places that are accessible by foot. so we walk a lot, especially in the beautiful 70-80 degree weather we've been having. we have been nearly hit a number of times despite the care we take. the other day all four of us were crossing an intersection on one side of a street with a median. after we were already in the middle of the intersection, a driver from the other side of the road began to cross the street to turn down the street we were in the middle of. he was not there when we began to cross, but adam was afraid he might not see us and so he held up his hand and said "Hey!" in a non-aggressive way. we drive and so we know that sometimes you don't see pedestrians, but only other cars. the driver of the car, looked at adam with a glare, leaned toward us threateningly, gunned it and swerved around us in an extremely aggressive manner and sped away. i immediately burst into tears at the thought of one of my babies being hit by a car (i have this recurring nightmare that either i am in a car wreck with the kids or someone hits us while we are walking....we are VERY careful). i admit that i'm a pretty emotional creature, but seriously, what kind of person acts that way toward a fairly normal looking family with two small children who are obviously just trying to safely make it to the sidewalk?