It’s not much, but if I’m using a crosswalk and a car is blocking it, I’ll stroll casually up to the window, stop until I make eye contact, then turn around and walk behind the car since it’s usually closer(and safer) than trying to walk in front of it given how close it is to oncoming traffic. Hopefully those who aren’t total assholes get the point.
Another pet peeve is people blocking sidewalks with parked cars. If they do that, I go around through their front lawn. They obviously intended for pedestrians to use their lawn as a detour.
I stand in front of the car for a good two to five minutes. Just stand there right next to their hood, so they can’t move without running me over. Sometimes I do a little back and forth movement, always staying in front of the car.
Concur. Times like that are some of the few when I wish I was a cop. Then I’d ticket the hell out of them. But since I’m not and I don’t carry concealed, a hard stare and a head shake is about all I hazard to muster. People not only suck (sometimes), but they can be downright homicidal at the drop of a hat (sometimes).
Flip side is is that, occasionally, even a conscientious and thoroughly courteous driver can be caught on the cross walk now and again. I know this because it happens to me once in a great while. The flow, which you have to go with, suddenly just stops, and leaves you hanging. That guy in the jacked up monster truck banging his head to the racket on the radio, or the teeny bopper in the Prius talking on her cell phone - maybe that happed to them, and maybe behind the asocial and utterly self-absorbed façade they project, they are actually very concerned and apologetic that they have inconvenienced and endangered you.
Having a feeling that might be illegal, I looked around. Some cites I looked at defined jaywalking not just as crossing not in the crosswalk but as recklessly crossing a street and on other sites it specifically mentioned “If a jaywalker disrupts traffic, he or she may also face disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace charges.” That was just wiki and findlaw, I didn’t check any actual state statutes. But I suspect a cop won’t have a hard time finding a way to arrest (or at least writing a ticket) for someone blocking traffic.
I know you’re trying to prove a point, but if a cop saw that all play out, my WAG is that you’d get a ticket and the driver wouldn’t.
Also, just FTR, if someone did that to me, I’d be laying on the horn the entire time. Sorry, I went over the line a bit, forgive me, but if you’re going to act like an ass, I’m going to make sure everyone watches. I’m also going to make sure I have witnesses in case the crazy lady hits my car or attacks me.
Now, what about when this happens the opposite way? As a driver, I hate it when pedestrians stand in the road instead of on the sidewalk while waiting for their light. There’s one spot that I have to go through on a regular basis where I’ve almost hit people a few times. It’s a double right turn and if the light is green (with a green right turn arrow), every comes around it pretty quick. For some reason, people tend to stand on the asphalt, I assume they just don’t realize how close the the curb the cars are going to be since they come two wide.
Last summer, I was in inner right turn lane and had cars on my left side also turning. I noticed someone standing in the street with their bike. I stopped…waited…honked, he finally looked over at me and I motioned and yelled ‘get out of the street’. It took all that before he finally saw what was going on and backed up a few steps so I (and all the cars behind me) could start moving again.
I work at a university in the middle of a small town and this pisses me off, too. We even have overhanging signs with flashing lights over the pedestrian crossing, and some drivers still refuse to stop or act like assholes by creeping into the crosswalk while pedestrians are in the street. I myself, at a traffic light with the walk signal lit, just experienced this with a driver who didn’t want to wait for me to finish crossing the street, and his car clipped the bag I was carrying.
I’m not a violent person but Jesus Christ, I wanted to punch that guy.
It’s true that a lot of students here just blithely stroll into the crosswalk without looking, but there are literally tens of thousands of students and other pedestrians that are aware of their surroundings and are just trying to cross the street without getting killed. There is no excuse for trying to intimidate them when they’re vulnerable and you’re in a metal death machine.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
It’s not that the affected person walks (or drives) away thinking, “What a rational argument. And so calmly stated! I shall change my behavior immediately.”
Yep. Maybe they just made a mistake, didnt mean it, and are truly sorry for any inconvenience. OTOH, if you take revenge, you are certainlybeing a asshole on purpose.
When I was at the University of Illinois, my office was on one side a street and my dept. office and classrooms on the other side. There was a bike path and well-marked pedestrian crossing across it. Cars were not so much of a problem, if you waved at them, they would usually stop, but no bike would ever stop. I was sorely tempted to poke an umbrella through a spoke.
By the same token, if a cyclist is approaching an intersection, slowing down, makes eye contact with you, and you stop at the median island of the street; do not subsequently get angry at the cyclist for “not stopping” when you suddenly lunge at them just as they’re certain you’re waiting for them and start to accelerate again.
Seriously… I am more than happy to go around you if you move in a predictable fashion so I can figure out just where “around” will be when our paths cross. Keep crossing and I will brake so I pass behind you. Stop, and wait, and I’ll assume you’re letting me through and will try to pass in front of you. It’s not actually fun for the cyclist either if we collide. /rant