There's a reason for crosswalks

[Siam_Sam]

@Siam_Sam

I once knew a Brit over here who swore that if you were crossing the street in a crosswalk and a car failed to stop for you, and you took down the license-plate number and reported it to the police, the police would hunt down the perp and there would be consequences. He insisted he was talking about Thailand and not Jolly Old England. We laughed and laughed and urged him to try it, but he never would.

@Corcaigh

AFAIK this is true, if you step onto a zebra crossing and the cars don’t stop, the drivers are in big trouble. I’m not 100% sure (since I never drove in the UK) but as I understood things if a driver hits a pedestrian who is on the road, it’s the pedestrian who is held responsible, but if a driver hits a pedestrian who was on a zebra crossing, then the driver is held responsible.

Now, I’m not talking about getting hit. My acquaintance was claiming that if a car did not stop, causing you to jump out of the way but otherwise emerge unscathed, or even make you just stop walking to wait for him to pass, and you took down the license number, then some cop at the nearest precinct was going to get off his lazy ass and go hunt down the perp to ticket him. Just on your say-so that it even happened. And again, he emphasized this was Bangkok police he was talking about, not London police. I don’t think so.

As for getting hit, it’s not completely clear the local constabulary don’t understand the crosswalks are not just road decoration used in an attempt to beautify the city. That is, the crosswalks not faded into near-obscurity.

[Corcaigh]

@Filbert

It’s not 100% clear, but generally, the driver is held to be at fault in the UK if they hit a pedestrian, regardless of whether they were on a crossing or not. Certainly the law states that you must drive at a low enough speed that you should be able to not run over a child that darted out into the road.

My knowledge of the UK Highway Code is virtually non existent, I do recall being taught how to cross the road - stop at the kerb, look left, look right, look left again, then cross.

IIRC this had to be amended to stop at the kerb, look left, look right, look left again, and if there are no cars coming then cross. Because so many kids took the Green Cross Code (hey, that was Darth Vader!!) literally, and would cross the road having stopped, looked, left, right and left, and then get run over by a car.

I recall being told that if you are on the road and a car hits you it’s your own fault, unless you’re on a zebra crossing, then it’s the drivers fault. I was also told that if you’re hit by an ambulance, fire engine, or cop car racing to an incident they will not stop to check on you.

That was 30+ years ago, so things might be different now.

I have a vague memory of lines being painted on the road either side of zebra crossings where cars were not allowed to park because they obscured the view of the crossing for oncoming drivers

@Siam_Sam

Now, I’m not talking about getting hit. My acquaintance was claiming that if a car did not stop, causing you to jump out of the way but otherwise emerge unscathed, or even make you just stop walking to wait for him to pass, and you took down the license number

I shall ask my English friends if this is the case!

@suranyi

That’s “Canada”. “Montreal” is a different world, at least in terms of driver’s “courtesy”.

Ah, I see!

[Siam_Sam]

@Corcaigh

I shall ask my English friends if this is the case!

How would they know if that’s the case in Bangkok?

[Raygun99]

@Hari_Seldon

Pedestrian crossing? What’s that? No car in Montreal has ever stopped just because there is a pedestrian in a cross walk. I was astonished by a city bus that stopped for me two days ago, but the car coming up behind him just went around him. So you are on your own; why not cross in the middle of the block where there are only two directions of traffic to worry about?

When zebra stripes appeared maybe 20 years ago, there was no explanation of what they meant and there still hasn’t been.

It gets worse. In Calgary, many drivers stop even if it isn’t a crosswalk, or even if it’s someone making the “leaning to cross” motion in the middle of the street. I’ve even seen people stop at a green light for a pedestrian. Idiots - the drivers going the other way don’t necessarily agree with you, and I’m not going to risk my life on that. and then people get mad if you don’t cross.

[Corcaigh]

@Siam_Sam

How would they know if that’s the case in Bangkok?

He insisted he was talking about Thailand and not Jolly Old England. We laughed and laughed and urged him to try it, but he never would.

What did that mean then? Was he talking about England or Thailand…?

[Siam_Sam]

@Siam_Sam

He insisted he was talking about Thailand and not Jolly Old England.

@Siam_Sam

And again, he emphasized this was Bangkok police he was talking about, not London police.

@Corcaigh

What did that mean then? Was he talking about England or Thailand…?

I don’t know if you’re pulling my leg, but I’ve bolded the pertinent parts of each of my posts.

[Siam_Sam]

@Siam_Sam

In Thailand, crosswalks serve one purpose and one purpose only: To funnel pedestrians into one convenient location for drivers to run your fool ass over if you even think about crossing the street.

See? Here’s a case in point. Just yesterday (Monday), this old lady got whacked in a crosswalk by a bus in central Bangkok.

But this was one tough old bird. Note that the story says she was first hit by the bus, which then flipped over and landed on top of her :eek:. A mighty clash, to be sure, and she went down fighting.