Under the circumstances you describe, pedestrians specifically do NOT have right of way. The right of way is not automatic, even for pedestrians. If one does walk into traffic against the hand signal, the driver who runs him over is generally not at fault.
I almost got knocked down by an eager driver, while I was crossing at a crosswalk. Thankfully the traffic was moving about 12 mph, and the car just kind of bumped me. But it scared the hell out of the driver.
This happened on Saturday, at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic in Brooklyn, NY (a major shopping area. Both streets are 6 lanes at this intersection. The walk light turned white (the little man, anyway), and we started across immediately. I was at the front of the crowd crossing, with two guy slightly ahead of me.
Halfway across, at the beginning of the 4th or 5th lane, the two guys ahead of me were almost mowed down by this woman, who was turning. (Yes, she was young, black and “urban”: so am I.)
The amazing thing was she had her windows up but you could clearly see she was almost purple with apoplexy, and her “Get the fuck out of the street” could be heard clearly through the closed windows.
There aren’t enough rolly-eyes (and for the two survivors, nitroglycerine tablets)!
That’s actually weird. If anything, one would assume “black urban” typed would be more likely to cultivate a “street is my neighborhood” attitude where they just stand out in the middle of the street no matter what the traffic is, and that one from there would recognize this and not get all huffy about someone taking their dear time crossing a busy street like so many of those in the inner city seem to do (at least, the times I’ve been through medium-traffic streets in places that could be characterized that way).
If one had to make generalizations, that is.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to matter here in good ol’ Carson City, Nevada. A very good friend of mine was doing exactly as he should have, going 25 in a 25 zone, keeping his eyes open, and this woman darted in front of him and he hit her (there was no way to stop). She wasn’t at a crosswalk and it was rush hour, and he still got charged with attempted manslaughter.
I think that people who dart into traffic when there’s not a clear emergency (IE you see someone getting mugged across the street) need to be whapped upside the head with a rolled-up newspaper a few times. Same goes for drivers who jump the gun.
People who ignore road rules are my biggest pet peeve. Some day I’ll go onto my “use your blinker, bitch” rant.
~Tasha
My husband and I have decided that if pedestrians want to cross against lights and jaywalk, they should be allowed to - with no penalties to drivers who hit them. If you think you can make it, go ahead. heh heh heh.
(Do I really need to say that we were kidding out of the frustration of trying to drive around morons who are trying to get themselves a suicide by automobile and the laws of this town would make the driver who hit them at fault?)
Gah! I hate that!
There is an intersection near where I shop that has 4 posted signs explaining that there is NO RIGHT TURN ON RED ARROW, plus a couple of “circle slash” signs for those who don’t read. The reason is that the people to your right (who have the green arrow to turn left) are also allowed to make a u-turn, and if you are making a right on the red light, they will cream you. It’s not that big of a deal, their left turn arrow cycle is usually less than 90 seconds, then once they stop turning you can turn left on the regular red light.
So I am sitting at the red light, waiting until the red arrow goes out so I can turn, listening to a cacophony of horns behind me, along with some educational gestures. As was stated earlier, just because you’re a dumbshit doesn’t mean I’m gonna be.
And if I’m not mistaken, if you stop behind the limit line and then creep up past it into the crosswalk, you have just run a red light and can be ticketed. I was in traffic school once with a guy who’d gotten that ticket, and man was he pissed.
12 mph?! It was moving at the speed of a full sprint? And you didn’t get hurt? Wow.
I included that reference mostly as a joke, but if one were to take its implications to their ultimate conclusion, this type of attitude speaks directly to a selfish, self-centered, “it’s all about me, it’s my world and, by implication, my streets, and what the hell are you doing actually trying to use them while I’m doing so” mentality, then that same attitude, in this cause, can be extended to the driver.
Additionally, we (specifically the two guys that almost got hit) weren’t taking our dear time; we were crossing in the normal course at normal speed. That’s what was actually so weird about her acting that way.
And yes, to generalize, there are those in the inner city who do that, and to add to the “cool” factor, they do so without even glancing around as they do it. They are the same ones who are soon to get many pounds of automobile forced up their arse at a very, very high rate of speed.
I forgot my 
.
Like I said - there are some pedestrians who need a good hitting. Preferably before they reproduce.
Oops, forgot my too.
You’re all lucky you’re dealing with people. A few weeks ago about half a dozen sedans and SUVs decided it would be in their best interest to left turn on red while I was driving through the intersection. Asstards.
She’d say that if you were wearing a short skirt and thong you should climb over the hood for the sheer testosterone release/insanity value. However, if you are dressed more modestly, you should open the car door and walk in front.
Wait, i’ve got the book here somewhere…
The honking of the horns, it needs to ease up. I drive 30 in town. Guess what? The fucking speed limit IS 30 IN TOWN !!! Why not speed? Unsafe curves, State Troopers, local cops, pedestrian traffic in a town and village with no sidewalks and frequently no shoulder to speak of. Sure, there’s a white line…then 24 inches of tar and dirt, then somebody’s shrubbery.
I routinely pull aside to let the speeders who are honking angrily zip by me. Best one in recent memory was last winter. I drove to the top of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, hooked a left up and over Harriman State Park on Route 6. Not a stormy night, but a shitty dark one. One lane in each direction, double yellow line. That stretch of road gets a few fatal head-ons every year. I always toe the speed limit and hang just a smidgen over to the right.
I’ve got a guy behind me, just fucking LIVING in my trunk. I am not gonna pull over, I’m gonna drive up and over the damned mountain, down the coupla miles long incline and out onto Route 17.
Go up and over, and for about a half mile there are two lanes, because of a merge. Then the road goes back to being one lane. In the space of that half mile, the driver pulled up next to me, screaming god knows what obscenities and gesturing angrily at me for going so slowly. Classic road rage.
Then… because it was an umarked police car, he flashed his lights and pulled past me, turned his lights off and drove the rest of the way down the road. He wasn’t on a call, he didn’t hit his siren or go flying down the roadway. He was just a pissy driver who happened to have a lightbar hidden in the grill.
Dick.
Cartooniverse
p.s. And before any cop-lovers jump my shit for blocking an officer, blah blah blah, I am a retired EMT who has taken and passed a NY State EVOC Certification Course and I know as much about what to do around vehicles with lights and sirens, and how to maneuver said vehicles as anyone else. The guy wasn’t on a call. He was just being a dick.
I’m quite familiar with Flatbush and Atlantic. You should know better than to listen to a little white man when he tells you to cross that intersection.
( waiting for Biggirl to get in here and smack me around a bit. )
My bro in law used to live a few blocks from there. Between that and the utter MESS of that new “mall” near DeKalb and Flatbush, shit. What a mess that area became in the last 10 years. Oh wait, not the indoor Mall, but that outdoor pedestrian “mall” that stopped traffic for a few blocks just near Juniors. Eeech.
Cartooniverse ( not black or ghetto but amused at 5-4 Fightin’s post anyway ! )
Know what the worst thing is? For the past year there have been traffic cops by each of the intersections around my building. Do they do anything when light after light, cars are sitting in the crosswalk and people are walking on the street and stopping through traffic? They do not.
And bus stops are not parking spaces. Not only if you’re “only going to be a minute getting coffee.”
People who do this find me leaning on the driver’s side door. “Only going to be here till the bus comes.”
Are you sure that wasn’t a funeral procession that had started the turn before the light changed?
Ever seen this one? Someone’s sitting in the left hand turn lane, with their blinker saying they’re going to turn left, and then suddenly they dart into traffic and turn RIGHT.
~Tasha