It's not wise to walk in front of a turning car

The BBQ Pit
21

As a frequent pedestrian in downtown Calgary, I have to add my weight to the pile-on. Recently, I was nearly creamed by a huge truck making a right turn while I had the walk light - the bastard looked at me, paused, then went anyway, nearly running over my toes. It’s a $500 fine here, too.

I try to always make eye contact with the drivers, so I can get an idea that they know I’m there. I do look and judge the traffic - I know very well that they want to turn, but I waited for my walk light, and I’m going. At uncontrolled intersection, pedestrians still have right-of-way, and I’ll go nice and quickly and get out of your way.

Can I add a counter-rant about drivers that drive thisclosetome after barely waiting for me to clear from in front of them? Drivers, you know that you won’t hit me, but please, show some courtesy, and give pedestrians a little space. It’s good for our hearts.

22

So Iam waiting for a walk signal on evening across from where I worked. The light turned green, and I stepped off the curb. About 3 steps into the cross walk (remember the light had just turned green so I had a walk signal for sure) I find myself being picked up by the back of my legs and flipped over onto my back as I slide across the hood of a Buick. I left the Buick hood near the windshield on the driver’s side and landed in a heap.
I was very, very lucky, nothing was broken, sprained, or strained.
I jumped up and started had a conversation with the driver IIRC correctly I said:

“Excuse me madam, but perhaps you did not notice I was in the crosswalk, and was crossing with the green light. You may not be aware of this, but that gives me the right of way, and you should strive to not run me over.”

Naw that’s not what I said, what I really said )(screamed) was

HEY YOU STUPID BITCH ARE YOU STONED OR ARE YOU STUPID? DON’T YOU EVER BOTHER TO LOOK OUT THAT BIG PIECE OF GLASS THAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A STUPID PERSON IN MY LIFE AS YOU. IS YOUR FUCKING IQ AND SHOE SIZE THE SAME NUMBER? DIDN’T YOU SEE ME? GODDAMN THAT FUCKING NEW DIET MUST BE WORKING, BECAUSE I’M FUCKING INVISIBLE. I WAS IN A FUCKING CROSS WALK YOU STUPID BITCH AND YOU RAN ME OVER. I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING CHANCE BECAUSE YOU WERE BEHIND ME, AND I DON’T HAVE ANY FUCKING EYES IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD, SHIT FOR BRAINS.
lather rinse repeat for about 5 mintes ending with
“Why don’t you get the fuck out of here, before I get really mad at you”

Judging by the look on that lady’s face :eek: when I got done I doubt that she has ever made a turn again without looking at the cross walk first. :smiley:
Lame OP rant, very lame

23

I just have to assume drivers are idiots, and never cross in front of a car unless I absolutely know the driver sees me. Sorry, ana, but you fall into the idiot driver category with the attitude expressed in your OP. It’s your job to look out for pedestrians, not the other way 'round. It’s only because of such inattentive drivers, to put it mildly, that I must assume all drivers are complete and utter buffoons. What you’re doing is dangerous, negligent, and irresponsible. Furthermore, shifting the blame to the pedestrian is simply juvenille. Wake up and watch both sides of the road when you’re turning.

24

The general European attitude isn’t that pedestrians don’t have any rights…but that if you’re going to cross the road, you should know enough about traffic to know where to look. So you shouldn’t end up crossing in front of any car that’s likely to start moving…in the OP’s example, if there’s no pedestrian crossing, it’s far safer to walk fifty yards down the street and cross there, than try to judge the multiple trajectories of a junction.

On the other hand, hitting a pedestrian and claiming ‘but I was looking behind me because I was turning’ is pretty much a confession. If you’re not in a position to know what’s in front of you, you shouldn’t be moving forwards.

25

:smack: You people are :wally .

I thought I made it clear, I do check. Every fucking time. It’s still not smart of you to walk blindly in front of my car, you assholes. For your own fucking sakes. Isn’t it just safer for your own ass? I’ll tell you, every time I wak down the street and have to cross a parking lot opening, yes, I do walk behind the lead car. Why? Because there always is the remote chance, that he didn’t see me, he looked but the glare was in his eyes, it’s some little old lady, etc. etc. etc. For my own life.

And for your information, I was turning from a parking lot onto a major road.

Aes, this is not intended toward you.

Jeez Louise, I wasn’t mad at the ped, but mad at you guys.

26

<insert hugely insulting comment about the OP because I may be a pedestrian in front of her car some day>

I was hit in a crosswalk by someone turning right, and I was RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. I always make eye contact with the driver, and I really thought I did with him. He was wearing sunglasses, and apparently the eye-contact thing didn’t work out for me. Was I still in the wrong, then?

You’re the :wally

27

No, you didn’t make it clear. You said you “studiously” look left, and only “glance” right while “predominantly” looking left. That sounds to me like you barely look right at all.

I’m kinda busy watching to make sure vehicles traveling southbound and turning left in front of me don’t run me over, while simultaneously making sure other vehicles that have run the stoplight traveling eastbound don’t run me over. I don’t also simultaneously spin around and look behind me as I walk forward to make sure someone coming out of a parking lot didn’t see me during their “glance.” I guess that makes me an asshole.

And when the southbound traveling car turning left into the parking lot doesn’t see you hidden behind the car turning right to head northbound and runs you over, you can shout :wally at yourself until the Ambulance arrives. Then when your small claims suit gets dismissed b/c you were illegally not in the crosswalk you can give yourself a :smack:

28

This doesn’t help your case. In fact, it makes it much worse.

If you were turning from a parking lot onto a busy road, then it is ludicrous to suggest a pedestrian go behind you.

The pedestrian has to worry about getting hit by a car turning quickly into the parking lot, and you want them to go behind you so they can’t even be seen from the road?

If you had been turning onto a deserted street with a low speed limit then you would have a point.

29

My vote is against this dogpile. When driving a motor vehicle, it’s my responsibility to attempt to not run over mindless assholes who think the world owes them a bulletproof existence. When I’m a pedestrian, it’s my responsibility to be aware of vehicles who may not see me, and just might run my ass over if I’m walking along imagining being bulletproof.

Here’s to the tale of Billy O’Day
who died observing his right of way.
He was right-quite right as he strode along
and just as dead as if he’d been wrong.

I don’t give a tinker’s dam what the signals show. If you step off the curb without having made reasonably certain (suggest eye contact) that a turning vehicle is aware of your presence, you’re a fool.

30

It also means that her car was crossing the sidewalk. Even if you subscribe to the ludicrous idea that pedestrians don’t have the right of way when crossing the street although the law says they do, they certainly have the right of way on the sidewalk - it was, after all, provided entirely for their use and the car is the interloper.

31

Sometimes that doesn’t matter. I’ve been nearly run over by laughing frat boys who think it’s funny to let me pass almost all the way across the street and then speed up, while honking, their car almost scraping on the back of my leg. And then there’s the time I was hit by the girl talking to her friend next to her. I wasn’t hurt, but I was really shaken up. It’s not about wanting a bulletproof existence, it’s about not wanting to be deliberately or carelessly injured by jerks who look right through you because you chose to walk the five blocks to the store instead of loading yourself into a two-ton killing machine. I won’t even get into the abuses leveled at bike riders by drivers.

Drivers suck.

32

Originally posted by Rick:

Ah, Rick, I commiserate. A little over a year ago, on a rainy November evening when I was returning from class, I got hit by a fucking SUV. It was at one of those lights where there’s a green arrow for cars trying to turn left. I waited patiently for the light to change to the little white man. Usually, I turn around and check to be sure there’sno assholes trying to race through the light, but I was fucking tired after a day of work and a three hour lecture, and a long wait for and ride on the Red Line and I wanted to go to my nice warm house and fucking sleep, so I just assumed that since the light changed I could cross.

oops.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a big-ass white blur and then me and my Cd player and my batteries are all sprawled across the street. Luckily, nothing was broken, not that it would’ve mattered sinc I was just too shocked to get any relevant info out of the guy who hit me. Also on the luck side, he had the sense to brake when he saw me, and might not have hit me at all except for the slick streets and the fact that he was speeding through a turn that he had no right to make.

I sorta agree with the OP’s position that pedestrians hould check first, but sometimes we just want to get where we’re going too, and we don’t feel like making eye contact with every driver who may or may not be about to turn or not turn. Nor do we always feel like turning 180 degrees to make sure there’s no car bearing down on us from behind.

In short, I’ll watch where I’m going if you watch where you’re going.

33

The pedestrian would still have the right of way, and the driver should still be looking out where she’s going, not looking behind her.

34

:wally :wally :wally :wally :wally :wally :wally :wally :wally

35

I think in general, people should be wary of walking in front of traffic. When I was in Italy, however, they told us if we didn’t walk in front of cars, we’d never make it across the street when it’s crowded - and it’s my impression that it’s that way in some other places, as well.

36

Nobody’s saying it isn’t prudent to make sure the driver sees you; we’re saying the OP is wrong to be irritated for something that was entirely her fault.

It’s prudent to look over your shoulder when using the ATM at night, too. That doesn’t mean it’s O.K. to rob people.

37

Okay, how about this.

You’re walking up to an intersection at which there is no stoplight, but there are stop signs in all four directions. As you get to the intersection, you see a car barreling down the street you intend to cross. The car is clearly going at least 20 mph over the speed limit, far too fast to be able to stop in time. You then look at the stop sign and, as is your legal right, proceed into the intersection…where you get creamed by the car that had intended to run the stop sign in the first place.

Legally, you’re 100% right, and the car is 100% at fault. Realistically, you’re an idiot. A dead idiot.

Now, obviously, the situation described in the OP is nowhere near as clear-cut as the above example. Nonetheless, just as the hypothetical stop sign runner’s intentions were clear, so too can we guess at the potential motives of a person waiting to pull out onto a street. Yes, it is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that the way is clear before proceeding. Sometimes, though – and quite often, if the personal experiences you’re all relating are any indication – that just doesn’t happen. So, for one’s own safety, it might well be prudent to walk behind the lead car. The main advantage of this is that while the lead driver may well only be paying attention to the traffic flowing from his/her left, one can assume that the driver of the second car is looking straight ahead, watching the lead car in anticipation of it getting out of the way. Even supposing our two drivers are equally single-minded, the second is far more likely to notice you incidentally as you cross his path. Furthermore, it’s a pretty safe assumption that the second driver isn’t going anywhere at least until the lead car moves, giving you a convenient little window in which to do your street crossin’ thang.

None of this absolves either driver from any responsibility, nor does it strip the pedestrian of any rights. It’s simply a good idea based on what we know to be true – drivers don’t always pay attention to everything they should. I think that, rather than a change in current right-of-way procedures, is what the OP was suggesting.

Of course, I could be wrong; maybe Anaamika just enjoys mowing down random street-crossers. In which case, may I just point out that it’s ever so much easier if you never stop in the first place. Not that I’d know… :wink:

38

Oops, should’ve previewed. I want to make it clear that I agree with the quoted statement, to a point. Getting annoyed over an individual incident which, in one’s own admission no less, was entirely one’s own fault, is a touch disingenuous. My above post was not directed at those who only posted to point that out; rather, it is directed at those who would get all indignant when somebody suggests that they make a largely insignificant modification to a general pattern of behavior in order to avoid specific undesired consequences, such as, say, getting creamed by a two-ton Wad O’ Metallic Death.

Having the right to do something does not amount to a real-world guarantee that one may exercise that right 100% of the time with no ill effect. And when the right-violating behavior in question is, by popular testimonial, nigh-ubiquitous, one might do well to be aware of that fact and modify their own behavior in order to avoid being on the receiving end of unpleasantry. To those who would choose not to do so, well, I applaud your decision to stand up for your rights…just don’t pretend to be surprised when you’re smacked upside the head with the obvious.

39

And of course pedestrians are never wrong. There isn’t a single one of them that doesn’t pay attention to what they are doing. Nobody has ever been hit from not watching what cars are doing or walking into the street between parked cars instead of using the crosswalk. :dubious:

Right of way does not automatically equal right. Is it so hard to believe that the pedestrian in this case wasn’t paying attention?

I’m not saying that I agree entirely with the op, but imho this dogpile is just as stupid.

40

Apparently Harborwolf you and I are the sole defenders of the OP.