Someone once did this to me when I was walking in the crosswalk and hit me with his car. Fortunately, he was just rolling and I didn’t get badly hurt (I think I had a small bruise on my thigh). He was very apologetic and said his foot slipped. He was talking to his passenger at the time, not looking at the crosswalk at all, though, so I don’t know what really happened. But when I walk through intersections now, I give all the drivers the stink-eye, hoping to convince them that rolling is really a bad idea.
I notice a lot of folks doing this when the light for the turn lane next to them turns green, but the light for their own lane is still red.
Turn lane light changes, folks in the center lane roll forward a few inches, then realize that they still have a red light, so they stop.
I would have just rolled back a teeny bit, just to give her the idea that not everybody is driving an automatic, and some of us aren’t going to go whole hog coming off the clutch on a hill until we are actually going to go somewhere.
Do you mean the brake pedal?
Awww - thanks!
In my defense I never do it when I’m at the front of a line. Well, i take that back. i have done the thing that rhythmonly said, where you see the left-turn light change with your peripheral vision so you think yours changed so you roll an inch or two and then stop when you realize it’s still red.
As a pedestrian, let me say that habits like this are why I am nervous at crosswalks and usually insist drivers make their turns or whatever first. I am ignorant of the California right-of-way laws, but as erratically and carelessly as some people drive, I’ll be damned if I’m going to step in front of their vehicles. With some drivers, it’s nothing short of suicide.
Yes – my mistake.
That annoys me too. People usually seem to do it when they’ve noticed that the light is getting ready to change, when they’ve seen the lights go to yellow for the crossing traffic. I would assume that they’re going to take off and they never do. I accelerate normally, am still off the line faster than they are, and I never do the rolling thing. I’ve seen people get practically halfway before the light changes and yet they poke along after it’s actually okay to go.
What the hell? If you’re that impatient, get your ass moving, baka.
Around here, there are a lot of lights that don’t change until “tripped”. There are sensors built in that only change the light when there are cars (note the plural) waiting. Some creep to make sure the sensors trip.
Not sure this is applicable where you are.
I’ve actually had a person in a car behind me get out of his car, walk up to my window and tell me, “Move forward or the light will never change!” Never mind that if I moved up, with the way that road was configured, I would have been hit by the trucks swinging around to make the turns (which is why I stopped gasp a bit back! There was no stop line at this particular light)
I could probably start a whole other thread about this - drivers always think they’re doing you a favor by letting you go first. Just go! I don’t want to get crushed! Just get out of the way, it takes just as long!
Courtesy versus the law, unfortunately. There will always be some confusion there. Shortly after I was ticketed for being in a crosswalk while a pedestrian was present, I asked another police officer what the law was in this regard. He said that by the letter of the law, you can be ticketed for entering a crosswalk while a pedestrian is present in ANY part of the crosswalk at all. But beyond that, you will almost certainly get pulled over if you’re spotted making a manuever that “alters the pedestrian’s motion.” In other words, if the pedestrian has to stop and wait for you to turn, you are definitely violating their right-of-way.
So while I can understand wanting to wave cars through to turn in front of you, you might not be doing them any favors.
Once in a while, I roll forward. It’s always at an intersection that I’m unfamiliar with. That is, I anticipate a green light, am wrong, and must brake. If I know when the green light is coming, I sit until it comes.
My peeve is non-turn-signal-users. I won’t go into it now…
Joe
Since I’ve inadvertently started a thread on a topic Kevbo had already covered, it seems fitting that you might start one on a topic I’ve already covered (as had others before me, I’m sure).
Ooh, here’s a good story. I was in the right lane, there was a marked cop car in the left lane, and a row of cars left of him in the left turn lane. Just like you said, the green left turn only light came on. The cop took off while his light was still red and nearly hit a car legally turning left from the opposite direction.
He just sat there for a good 15-20 secs, then he turned on his lights and siren and took off through the intersection.
I guess it’s possible that an emergency call came in just as the left turn arrow turned green, but I’m pretty sure he just didn’t want to hang around looking like an ass.
The fine for interfering with a pedestrian in a crosswalk here is $500. I will sit and let pedestrians go till the cows come home if they are showing any signs of wanting to cross with a fine like that. It would also help if pedestrians knew how big the penalty was for cars going when a pede waves them on - then maybe they would take their proper right-of-way instead of trying to do the nice thing, instead of the right thing.
I had a situation a couple of years ago with a kid standing at a crosswalk, looking across the street like he wanted to cross. I waited for him, as we are supposed to do. There just happened to be a cop at the cross street, so I REALLY waited for him, knowing what the fine was if I didn’t (this was also in a school zone, where fines are doubled - $1000 fine if I guessed wrong). The kid didn’t go, and didn’t go, but still stood there looking like he wanted to cross. The cop in the car stayed there too, watching this whole diorama. Finally, the cop came over to me and asked me what the problem was. I said that the kid looked like he wanted to cross, so I was waiting for him. The cop asked the kid if he wanted to cross, the kid said no, the cop said,“Thanks for your attention, and you can go .” to me, and I finally went.
I didn’t know what to do with that situation; after a few seconds, it was obvious the kid had just picked a really bad place to wait for something, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to risk a $1000 fine with a cop sitting right there.