Okay, if I am crossing the street in a crosswalk do not barrell past, 3 inches away from my ankles honking your horn.
Also, if I am crossing at an intersection, in a crosswalk, and I have the little walky man light do not attempt to run me over by doing a right turn on red. I waited my turn. Now you wait yours. My brother kicks your cars when you do this. I am almost at that point.
If you are bycyclist two inches away from my ass while I am walking on the sideWALK don’t start swearing at me for not jumping into oncoming traffic to better accomodate your need for wheels. In this city, Sacramento, I am pretty sure that your bycycling ass is supposed to be pedalling along in the bycycle lane.
Thank you, from your carless, bitter pedestrian friend
I am a strong advocate of the pedestrian having the ultimate rule, which means that at any given moment it is my job as a driver of a multi-thousand pound vehicle to stop whenever a pedestrian looks like he’s about to walk into my path.
Everywhere, but mostly at the supermarket, I’m awed by the poor parking lot designs. People going in and out must constantly fight a line of aggresive cars in order to get back to their vehicles.
These same jackasses that won’t stop for a midget with two blind children and a wife in a wheelchair, will expect to cross traffic as if they were jesus parting the cambells soup.
While I’m at it, double parkers in a shopping center kills me.
It’s like saying, “I’m more important than anyone who uses the handicap spot way over there”. So important that it’s ok to create an unsafe situation for people walking.
I run into this situation every day, because I walk to class, but I drive everywhere else. The thing is, I end up pissed off no matter what side I’m on- when I’m walking, and people turn right when I have the Walk man blinking his glorious approval, I feel like spitting on their cars. When I’m driving at night, though, and pedestrians charge across the street in the dark without looking, that gets to me too. I think everybody, car or not, should use some common sense around intersections- if somebody’s walking and they’ve started across, let them go. If you’re walking and a car gets to the intersection at the same time as you, they’re going to turn right- don’t act surprised because they didn’t sit there waiting for you to get there.
I have almost been hit probably 10 times crossing a 4 way stop area coming from the parking lot into the hospital I work at. People either fly right through the stop signs, or do the stop, barrel up to me and slam the brakes, then look pissed. I am ashamed to admit more then once I’ve pointed at the stop sign and the crosswalk hashes and yelled “STOP MEANS STOP! HELLO???”
Yeah, I must admit I pointed at the crosswalk hashes to one of the a-holes that almost hit me today.
I just glared and muttered under my breathe at the bicycle man. I am very pro-active…or not.
I usually feel pretty sympathetic toward pedestrians, especially now with the weather getting colder around here. I almost always give people on foot the right of way; sometimes I just don’t notice them (hey, I’m on autopilot in the morning) and have to do the stutter-stop thing. They glare at me, but they’re allowed 'cause it’s my fault.
Now for the other peds, about that bright white walkie-man across the street from you: He has a friend, the big orange hand. The big orange hand’s job is to tell you to stay the fuck out of the street. Yes, I know that the cross traffic is stopped, but Mr. Big Orange Hand is still on the job because I have a left-turn arrow. That left-turn arrow is for the cars to have a chance to cross the street (to make their turn) without worrying about traffic. I don’t intrude on your crossing-the-street time, don’t mess with mine.
And don’t get all indignant when I’m driving home in the dark and don’t see you wearing your black trenchcoat and black slacks until you enter my headlight beams. Low-contrast against the background is not a good way to get noticed. And not getting noticed is hazardous to your health when confronted with a moving object that outweighs you 20-to-1.
Having once be hit in a crosswalk (a glancing blow with a bumper) and having had the right of way at the time, I added a new line to my list of “things to live by”:
Take care when crossing where vehicles have the ability to turn right on a red. Folks tend to concentrate on other cars, not walking people. Drivers also have to spot you through their passenger window before they begin the turn. A lot of folks won’t see you until you are visible through their windscreen… or on it.
I was just fuming last night because two of my examples happened in the 5 minute walk from the bus stop to my house. Usually only one vehicle a day tries to maim me.
I do walk defensively, I look both ways, etc. I am overcatious even. I think people speed up when they see a moving target.
I find that carrying a huge bag full of roofing nails yields very satisfying results. Almost hit me when I am walking? Oops, I just got so startled I dropped them in front of your car. So sorry.
I almost got caught in a close shave this morning while out for a run.
It was the same “I have the green, but they want to turn right on red bit”.
Thankfully I hesitated, and he eventually saw I was coming.
This happens far too often for me, because I think people just aren’t used to seeing pedestrians out anymore. But then, I’ve also almost gotten run down by a bike riding on the sidewalk, WHEN THERE WAS A BIKE LANE RIGHT IN THE STREET NEXT TO US! So it could just be general stupidity. More than likely it’s the dread combination of both.
And if you’re riding a bicycle and are actually going to stop and wait for the red light to turn green (a rarity in itself) please do so BEHIND THE CROSSWALK, not in the middle of it. It is called a CROSSWALK because it is where people wanting to CROSS the street are supposed to WALK. If it were where BICYCLES were supposed to WAIT for the light to change it would be called a BICYCLEWAIT.
Or a CARWAIT, for your counterparts in the four-wheeled vehicles.