# God Damn Road Pedestrians
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [April 25, 2001, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211 "2001-04-25T01:16:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/1 "2001-04-25T01:16:01Z")
Get off the road when vehicles are coming you pathetic morons. I come around a corner or over a hill; do I hit a vehicle head on and kill myself or run you over?
Just a quick addition for pedestrians on the roadway that don’t get off the road. Hitting you or an on coming car is not really a hard choice. Your death or mine, hard decision, NOT! You might sue? Good luck when you’re dead.
I really like the newspaper carriers on bikes that don’t have a light or reflectors on them. It’s two hours until dawn and you’re swerving into the middle of the road and onto the shoulder because you’re bored or something. I had about 10 feet to stop. I can’t believe you aren’t dead. What idiot parents let their kid deliver papers riding a bike down the road, without reflectors and lights in the dark.
I know with over 10,000 member’s someone will get pissed at my comments, well tough beef jerky. I always remember when I’m a pedestrian the road is dangerous and for vehicles. The sidewalk or right of way is for people when a car is coming. Get off the road.
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### Author:  [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/2 "2001-04-25T01:45:58Z")
You ARE joking, right?
Pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way.
Your bit about bikes not having reflectors is spot on, however.
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/3 "2001-04-25T02:13:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Harmonious Discord \*
> \*\*Hitting you or an on coming car is not really a hard choice. Your death or mine, hard decision, NOT! You might sue? Good luck when you’re dead.
>
> \*\*
Something wrong with your brakes and/or steering? Otherwise stopping or at least slowing down would probably be the wisest choice.
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### Author:  [@Tennessee\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tennessee_Ben)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/4 "2001-04-25T02:59:07Z")
Listen, you spread-assed son of a bitch: You are responsible for controlling your vehicle at all times. Let me repeat that: \*\* You are responsible for controlling your vehicle at all times.\*\* Anything could be on that road–from those of us who occasionally get our non-orca-fat asses out of our cars to a stopped cement truck; both of which have a right to be on the road, and neither of which you have the right to hit. Ergo, cresting a blind hill at a speed that will not allow you to stop is absolutely fucking retarded.
> [@](#):
>
> Hitting you or an on coming car is not really a hard choice. Your death or mine, hard decision, NOT!
You pompous fuck. Not only do you drive recklessly, but you also have the audacity to allocate the risk of your recklessness to those of us still capable of moving under our own power.
Blow me.
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### Author:  [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/5 "2001-04-25T03:06:03Z")
Some people should not be allowed to have liscenses:)
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### Author:  [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/6 "2001-04-25T03:46:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Harmonious Discord \*
> **Just a quick addition for pedestrians on the roadway that don’t get off the road. Hitting you or an on coming car is not really a hard choice. Your death or mine, hard decision, NOT!**
There are other options. As **Boscibo** pointed out, you could try to stop. Is there something blocking you on the right? If not, you could try to swerve that way.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\* You might sue? Good luck when you’re dead. \*\*
The pedestrian’s family might sue. Did you know that there are people than can look at the crash data and evidence and determine what happened? If you just plowed into him without trying to avoid it (i.e. slowing, swerving), they’d figure that out. That’s probably one hell of a wrongful death suit (says the non-lawyer).
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*I can’t believe you aren’t dead. \*\*
And I can’t believe you passed the written test. You’re supposed to have learned the driving laws when you took it. The ones they give near you must be incredibly easy.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/7 "2001-04-25T04:13:12Z")
Sortta curious. What year and model you you drive, Harmonious Discord
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### Author:  [@padabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/padabe)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/8 "2001-04-25T04:24:06Z")
I’m sure he’s not _looking_ for people to run over. The paper-work on that is a nightmare.
Perhaps an example would help. Just a half hour ago, my friend and I were coming home from a restaurant. He was driving. Night time, urban area, streetlights were on, but there are dark spots along the street. I saw the headlights of an oncoming vehicle appear to flash. An instant later, I saw some moron strutting in front of our car. I said “Christ,” and my friend swerved.
The moron made it across the street safely, but it was fairly close. Oaths were uttered. You know how it is, your heart starts going double time.
So yeah, I resent that. I not only resent people who walk through traffic - how can you miss a pickup truck’s headlights and engine? - but when they _strut_…
_Ofcourse_ pedestrians have the right of way. Doesn’t mean they don’t have to look both ways first. He almost got himself killed and he took 20 minutes off our lives. **Moron**.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/9 "2001-04-25T04:34:18Z")
Pedestrian here, backing **Harmonious Discord**. Why? Because, while I _do_ jaywalk, I am damn careful about it, and watch for traffic. But I’ve seen idiots crossing main highways here in New Zealand, just as if they thought they were strolling across a country lane.
In New Zealand, if farmers let stock stray onto a road at night and they’re hit, a large part of the blame belongs to the farmer. Our traffic safety ads here talk about slowing down (for drivers) because pedestrians _are_ unpredictable.
I’ve seen some damn near misses. Gives me the heebie-jeebies every time.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/10 "2001-04-25T05:11:05Z")
For the truely pissed off that think I proposely drive to maime people read the following.
I’m acutualy talking about the people walking down the road in the morning, in the middle of nowhere, and they don’t want wet shoes. A semi has just come over the crest of the hill with a wide load of earth moving equipment, and I have a choice of head on with the semi, or staying in my lane, and hitting the people that don’t want wet feet and are 3 feet into the road walking side by side. The stopping distance isn’t more than say fifteen feet. The new comers to the rural areas feel they can jog or walk down the roads at night, without any light source, and usually wear dark clothing. Hell it’s not the city.
You don’t drive rural roads at 15 miles an hour encase an idiot is standing on the road in the dark. The cities have express ways the rural areas don’t. Like I said “Get your fucking asses off the road.” Haven’t you seen enough bloated deer road kill and other animals, people don’t want to hit them either. These people are as smart as somebody crossing a four lane interstate highway to retrieve a cap that flew out the window. I haven’t had an accident for over twenty years, because I try to anticipate what is ahead. This is Wisconsin and not some flat land state. It’s hill after hill, and corkscrew roads. All the ciy folk are building out here, and their common sense doesn’t exist. They jog the roads at night in dark clothing and no light with them. They walk down the middle of the highway, even though the traffic is at about one car every minute or two. The density of traffic is due to all the new housing. The people that lived here for years walk in the ditch, wear light colored clothing, and usualy wait until the sun is up to walk along the road. Not that there aren’t acres and acres of public land people can walk on.
Urban people are building house after house in this farming area, and they have no common sense. They are the same people that pass the tractor on the road twenty feet before the crest of the hill. They can’t wait until they can see what is coming from the other side. They pull up to the mail box on the wrong side of the road, just on the other side of the hill were you can’t see them, but they are still two thirds of the way into your lane. They pass you at 70 miles an hour to stomp on their brakes a quarter of a mile down the road, to turn onto the mile long road going to the new house on the hill top that is big enough to be a public housing project.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/11 "2001-04-25T05:20:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by chique \*
> Pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way.
That’s just organic fertilizer from the male of a rather large farm animal. In California, and at least one other state, pedestrians do not always have the right of way. If one is jaywalking, the vehicle has the right of way.
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/12 "2001-04-25T11:24:01Z")
My take on right-of-way? I prefer the Law of Gross Weight Tonnage - if your vehicle is bigger than mine, I yield. Of course, I tend to yield anyway - I don’t need my gravestone to read “I had the right-of-way”
But I agree - people in dark clothing on dark roads are merely Darwin Award candidates… just like people who drive with burnt-out tail lights…
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/13 "2001-04-25T12:49:06Z")
There once was a man named Michael McShay,
Who died defending his right of way,
He was right, dead right, as he walked along,
But he’s just as dead now as if he were wrong.
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### Author:  [@Mr.White](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.White)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/14 "2001-04-27T02:00:54Z")
Harmonious Discord said it:
## Urban people are building house after house in this farming area, and they have no common sense. They are the same people that pass the tractor on the road twenty feet before the crest of the hill. They can’t wait until they can see what is coming from the other side. They pull up to the mail box on the wrong side of the road, just on the other side of the hill were you can’t see them, but they are still two thirds of the way into your lane. They pass you at 70 miles an hour to stomp on their brakes a quarter of a mile down the road, to turn onto the mile long road going to the new house on the hill top that is big enough to be a public housing project.
Son, I agree heartily. There are enough idiots DRIVING the roads without having to worry about sucidial pedestrians. If the Darwin Awards material doesn’t have enough sense to get out of the fuckin’ road, they deserve what they get. Any fool that will take on a two-ton vehicle armed only with a bicycle or a pair of Nikes NEEDS to be bumper fodder.
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### Author:  [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/15 "2001-04-27T02:26:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mr. White \*
> \*\* If the Darwin Awards material doesn’t have enough sense to get out of the fuckin’ road, they deserve what they get. Any fool that will take on a two-ton vehicle armed only with a bicycle or a pair of Nikes NEEDS to be bumper fodder. \*\*
Well, cocksocket, how about if you tell us how well you have your state’s Motor Vehicle Regulations Manual memorized? What does it say about speeding? About blind curves? About right of use and pedestrians? There are ABSOLUTELY some roadways in each state that specifically BAN pedestrian and bicycle use. Aside from that? Read up, cupcake. Cause I’ll tell you right now, I show up in MY fucking ambulance to a scene where you’re standing there all arrogant and Kiss-My-Ass with what’s left of a pedestrian slammed into the nearby pine tree, and you lay that line of shit on me, I’ll do two things very quickly.
1. I’ll have you arrested for DUI. Period. Nobody in a sane and mentally competant frame of mind would kill a pedestrian, therefore you are either mentally unstable, or DUI.
2. I’ll make damned sure you’re handcuffed on the way to the hospital.
Why? Because only someone who has total and depraved indifference to human life thinks that in a pedestrian-Motor Vehicle accident, the pedestrian is, to paraphrase the above quote, “Taking on a two-ton vehicle” and is in the wrong.
If you’re incapable of operating your vehicle in a safe manner, then be a man and surrender your operator’s license to the state DMV. Those of us who do sometimes WALK on roadways will be rather grateful.
Oh, and don’t come whining to this board when one of your kids dies because a car slammed into them doing 52 mph on a country road with a posted limit of 35, as your kid rode his/her bike on the shoulder. What, you’re gonna nod in agreement when THAT arrogant self-centered driver says to you in a court of law, " Hey, kid came up against a 3,400 pound SUV and all she was wearing was a fuckin’ helmet, you know who won that fight-sorry Daddy, but ever heard the phrase ’ bumper fodder’?? ".
Asshole. Dangerous asshole.
Cartooniverse
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/16 "2001-04-27T02:36:37Z")
The only place I KNOW pedestrians always have right of way is in the University of Saskatchewan. You can just just step to cross the street–the cars should be going slow enough (30 k/h) to stop.
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### Author:  [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/17 "2001-04-27T04:33:13Z")
Speaking as a frequent pedestrian, I gotta say I’m with Harmonious on this one.
If someone is walking/jogging in the middle of a rural road with no street lighting, wearing dark clothing, thus rendering themselves effectively invisible, and doesn’t have sense enough to get off to the side when they hear a vehicle approaching, laws aside, it’s their own fault if they get hit.
Back when I was living in South Bend, IN, I would commonly see Notre Dame students walking into the semi-rural, but still fairly busy streets, without so much as looking both ways. Hey, didn’t we learn that in grade school, or did they not teach you that in the exclusive private school your parents could afford to send you to? So, here’s the picture- traffic is humming along at 45 mph, and some domer suddenly appears from behind a bush or tree and steps into the road oblivious to said traffic, gets hit.
In Indiana, the pedestrian always has the right of way, so legally the accident is considered to be the driver’s fault.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/18 "2001-04-27T04:39:44Z")
I don’t think the Right of Way will help ya when you mow down a few pedestrains, no matter what.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/19 "2001-04-27T16:29:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Thea Logica \*
> In Indiana, the pedestrian always has the right of way, so legally the accident is considered to be the driver’s fault.
Not according to the actual laws in Indiana.
Taken from the Indiana Code ([http://www.state.in.us/legislative/ic/code/title9/ar21/ch17.html](http://www.state.in.us/legislative/ic/code/title9/ar21/ch17.html)) {bolding brought to you by Monty}:
> [@](#):
>
> IC 9-21-17-5
> Sec. 5. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.
> As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9.
> [@](#):
>
> IC 9-21-17-7
> Sec. 7. A **pedestrian** crossing a roadway at a point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection **shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles** upon the roadway.
> As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9.
> [@](#):
>
> IC 9-21-17-8
> Sec. 8. A **pedestrian** crossing a roadway at a point where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided **shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles** upon the roadway.
> As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9.
> [@](#):
>
> IC 9-21-17-15
> Sec. 15. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a **pedestrian** upon a roadway **shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles** upon the roadway.
> As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9.
& for Saint Zero:
> [@](#):
>
> IC 9-21-8-37
> Sec. 37. **Notwithstanding other provisions of this article or a local ordinance, a person who drives a vehicle shall do the following:
> (1) Exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian or a person propelling a human powered vehicle, giving an audible signal when necessary.**
> (2) Exercise proper caution upon observing a child or an obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person.
> As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9.
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### Author:  [@Tennessee\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tennessee_Ben)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2001, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-damn-road-pedestrians/63211/20 "2001-04-27T22:12:55Z")
What in the hell?
Yes, I am cautious when I’m running on a crowded street. And yes, I get out of drivers’ ways because I’m not an imbecile and don’t want to die.
I also don’t walk down dark alleys where I’m likely to be shot.
Now, would any of you cretins who are so earnestly saying that any pedestrian who won’t get off the road “deserves what he gets” also seriously say, “Hey, any asshole that would walk into a dangerous neighborhood deserves to get shot”? Of course not.
Yes, there are precautions I can take to make myself safe. But that doesn’t relieve you of your state- and morally-imposed duties not to be a reckless, self-absorbed cocksucker.
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