This just in: Crosswalks make you immune to cars

The BBQ Pit
1

Update: NO THEY DON’T.

So, I was driving home from Dairy Queen the other night having just purchased a delicious cookie dough Blizzard for SoulMate. We came to a four way stop, and ours was the only car in sight.

On the other side of the intersection, there was a group of three teenaged African-American girls (please refrain from twisting your knickers just yet - the racial distinction does become important). They were at the edge of the sidewalk near the opposite intersection, and, seeing me stopped, crossed. No problem yet.

They got halfway across the intersection, to the point that they were out of my line of travel. I waited a moment longer, and rolled onwards. They had not yet reached the other side of the street, but I was moving less than five miles per hour and they were easily four or five feet out of my path.

When I was level with them, one of their members wheeled around, leapt towards the car, slammed her palm on my window and screamed “Watch where the fuck you’re going, you white motherfucker!”

I wasn’t anywhere near hitting these girls, and even if I had been my velocity was such that no harm would have been done. Indeed, the only possible physical harm that could have come from the entire situation would have been from Dipshit the Magnificent flinging herself at the side of a vehicle.

I was instantly furious and wanted to stop the car and deliver unto them an Impressive Lecture detailing why what she had said was just flat-out wrong and racist, and that reverse racism is no less of a crime than direct racism (if, that is, you’re of the school of thought that the two are separable). But I didn’t. I didn’t say a thing, I didn’t flinch, I just drove on.

Why?

Because, for reasons I’d rather not get into, I was wearing a set of flashes. So, I pit myself for choosing an asinine time to wear Scottish regalia.

(As I type this, I am in a full uniform designed to look precisely like the dress uniform of General Henry Knox of the Continental Army. I do not go outside much.)

2

The obviously correct thing to do would have been, after her shout, to shout back, “I didn’t hit you, now did I, you stupid racist fatherfucker!” and then floored it. Bonus points if your back tire runs over her foot.

3

Yes, but isn’t the more important part of this story that they finally finished remodeling the Dairy Queen? I figured it was never going to reopen.

4

There’s a couple of crosswalks across the main drag that runs by the beach. They are on small minor streets that T into the boulevard. At just after dusk, I was driving at under the speed limit (30 mph, people routinely drive 50) and apparently there was a group of people that had entered the crosswalk. I heard them scream at me as I drove past. Listen you tards, people cannot see you at night. There is no stop sign nor flashing light, nothing! There were no cars behind me, so why not just wait until traffic is clear before you cross the damn street. Fuck, I almost slammed it reverse and ran the peabrains over.

I was telling my friend that story and then the exact fucking thing happened to him. You’d show up in the Darwin Awards except for the fact that dying by stepping in front of a car is not a flashy enough way to die.

5

In your mind, they were safe from your car; but in their minds, you missed them by two (or 2.5) footsteps. If you gave them the right of way (which you did), wait for them to reach the curb before passing by them. It’s more than a respect thing, it’s about actually giving them the actual right of way to cross the entire street, not just part of it.

But you were close enough for her to actually make contact with the car, which means you were too close to them to begin with.

The comment of course was meant to inflame the situation…she was (wrongly of course…teenagers are notorious for this) trying to empower herself with poorly chosen words to regain their self-importance that you (in their eyes) had stolen from them.

The flashes saved you from making things worse had you not worn them. Nothing good would have come from it.

Always give peds enough room so you don’t find yourself in that situation again.

6

African-American teen girls call that “flirting.”

7

I see your point. I’m sure it did look closer to them than it did to me, because I was the one in control of the situation.

However, what really bothered me was the “white motherfucker” comment. “Motherfucker” I can handle. “White motherfucker” was just…well, put it this way: turn that comment around, and I’m The Racist Devil. But it was okay coming from her? I don’t see it that way, but I suspect that she did, and that confounds me.

Getting rid of racism means boiling human relations down such that we all view each other as equals, not upping the tensions on both sides so that everyone is spitting equal levels of vitriol back and forth.

8

Just wondering what crossing rules there are in America.
In Oz crossings with no markings on the road pedestrians give way to cars (though you would be amazed how many cars stop and wave you through)
Marked crossings (zebra) as I understand it - cars are supposed to stay stopped until there is no one on the crossing.

9

Yep, although to be honest the title of the thread and inclusion of the crosswalk stuff takes away from the central issue here (and evidently your real point of annoyance). Racism is filthy and vile no matter who does it. The term “reverse racism” is idiocy, what’s more. You’re either a racist or you’re not, “reverse” implies that it has some sort of directionality, which it does not.

Of course, the Dope has plenty of idiots who’ll do their best to mimimize any and all racism as long as it’s against white folks (hi dio!). Expect to be told that, sure, it’s racism but it doesn’t matter because the history is different. Or (and I love this one), that you must only be objecting because you want to be able to call people niggers the same way that “white motherfucker” is rude but allowed by society in general.

Meshugenah.

Yep, fuck racists no matter what color their skin happens to be. Fuck them sideways with an enraged porcupine.

10

As with so many other things, the rules may vary from state to state. Here in the SoW, a crosswalk doesn’t have to be marked for pedestrians to have the right of way — or at least that was the rule back in the Dark Ages when I read the manual. Anyplace else, pedestrians are fair game.

11

Starting at 3:18

12

In California, the pedestrian is king, with some caveats.

  1. (a) The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. (b) The provisions of this section shall not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for his or her safety. No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. No pedestrian shall unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. (c) The provisions of subdivision (b) shall not relieve a driver of a vehicle from the duty of exercising due care for the safety of any pedestrian within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
13

And I see your point too. But props to you for keeping control of your actions whereas the teenager lost hers. In my book, you made the best of the situation (after the initial incident) that could have easily gotten waaaaayyyyy out of control. Consider that a win and a lesson learned. Perceptions and assumptions are not identical from one person to another. Just let it go and go get some Blizzards.

14

My favorite form of retaliation for road rage lately … when you finally make eye contact with the rager (usually the rage hits due to vehicle action before actual eye contact), flash the hugest, most shit-eating-est, overly-enthusiastic smile/wave possible. As if you’ve just been reunited with the long lost love of your life, or Santa brought you a puppy riding a pony over a rainbow. This usually causes them to go from simple raging to gasket-popping, sputtering madness.

Rarely though, it can backfire and cause their rage to turn right into laughter. I hate it when that happens.

15

My absolute favorite best-of-all-time crosswalk story happened in Berkeley, California, a number of years ago. The city was having problems with people getting hit by cars at a crossing. Some pedestrian group convinced them to install little baskets on either side of the crossing with a bunch of orange flags on sticks. The intent was that as a pedestrian crossed, they’d wave the flag and be seen by cars, then deposit the flag in the receptacle on the other side. Two days after the program went into effect, a lady was struck by a car while waving an orange flag.

Ya see those white stripes on the road? They’re painted crosswalk lines, not walls. You still have to wait to cross when it’s safe to do so.

16

Maybe the driver was color blind and thought she was surrendering. :smiley:

17

The crosswalk law in Oregon was changed a few years ago. We now have to wait until the pedestrian has cleared both lanes, not just the one we are driving in. We sit there and wait until the walker has reached the other curb. Two lanes in each direction and the walker has cleared both on my side of the road. I have to stay put until they clear the two lanes heading in the other direction too.

18

Sort of related story which I’ll tell here since I’m not going to make a new thread about it.

The other day I was walking through a Ralph’s parking lot, and crossing through the main thoroughfare in front of the store to enter the front doors. A car is coming, I pause for a moment to make sure they are stopping, which they are, so I go ahead and walk into the store. As the car whizzes behind me, I hear the driver yell out in his snidest possible voice, "You’re welcome!’

Oh gee, thanks for not running me down like a dog and yielding the right of way as you are legally obligated to do. I really appreciate it. Sorry I didn’t bow down to show my gratitude for your oozingly kind gesture. :rolleyes:

19

Out here in CA we refer to pedestrians as “deer” for many reasons.
Here’s a good one. One night I approached a red light pretty quickly after passing a large, exhaust-farting truck. I knew the light was red and hit my brakes WELL in the distance. No screeching, but my hood was titled forward a little while braking. There was a large, slow woman in the crosswalk. As I approached, I was amazed-- like a deer, she stopped her pace, turned her head toward me while frozen in the headlights.

She said, if you had hit me, I’d sue you!

I replied, depends how hard I hit you, no?

This has happened to almost everyone. They all freeze. I will never understand why they don’t bolt to the curb just for safety. Is it because they have the right of way, so that makes them somehow invincible?

20

This is probably not all that strange of a reaction for a couple of reasons. First of all, seeing a car raging toward you about to mow you down is a very sudden, and very unexpected occurrence. No matter how quick you are, reacting to such a stimulus usually takes a moment for your brain to decide on the best course of action. And it’s something of a guessing game between you and the driver, which delays your decision further: does he see me? Is he going to swerve? If he swerves, in which direction will he go? Is he stopping? If he’s stopping, will he stop in time? Or is he trying to mow me down?

And you have to ask yourself all of those questions in a split-second. It just doesn’t seem unusual that a person can lock up in those circumstances. What if you dive out of the way and at the same moment, the driver swerves to avoid you, and instead ends up pegging you?

In your particular story, I don’t know how long the woman stood there. If she had seen you coming a mile away with your eyes bulging out of your head clearly in the frenzy of a sadistic maniac, yeah I’d expect her to get out of the way. But if it all happened in a matter of a second or two, I wouldn’t be so quick to judge.