Why is this an either/or? Can't someone who believes that spending an additional five minutes to cross the street at a theoretically-safer point also believe that the street could be designed to support pedestrians more safely?
That's why I say it's missing the point. Calling for personal responsibility in the face of clear civic irresponsibility is not a way to run a society.
But one can call for both at the same time. We're perfectly capable of calling for civic responsibility as we exercise good personal responsibility in the face of civic irresponsibility.
If a 10-year-old cannot safely cross a road safely in a reasonable amount of time, no amount of personal responsibility can help with this. You're asking for too much from individuals.
It should not take 5 minutes of extra walking to cross the street here. The extra time is itself causing a dangerous situation.