In fairness, the light was green, and trusting that had worked out literally one hundred percent of the time he had crossed the road. It was a real shame too, everything left behind had been pretty nice: good friends, a nice living situation, a backlog of games (that was never going to be finished). It could've been a lot worse.
Headphones had become customary in a city as noisy as New York, blocking it all out was almost out of self-preservation. Though the extra reaction time might've been useful.
Admittedly what probably did it was spacing out while thinking about elaborate scenarios involving the strange worlds he had been dreaming about.