I was driving to work last week and I happened to stop at a red left turn light as the lead car. There was a crosswalk in front of me but the front of my car crossed over maybe 3 or 4 feet of it. The crosswalk is your typical width I guess, maybe 5 feet.
I was reading a magazine but then heard a knock on the hood of my car. Some middle-aged guy had taken offense that I crossed over into the crosswalk and knocked really quickly with his knuckles on the hood of my car.
He didn’t stop, just gave me an angry look and kept walking. The whole thing was over in 2 seconds. I was just shocked that someone would do something like this that I didn’t even react, just looked up from my magazine in shocked.
I know it didn’t hurt my car or anything, there’s no mark on it and no damage was done, but I felt I should done something, said something. Yes, its emasculating, I admit it. But short of running out and starting a fight or screaming at the guy out of my window, there was nothing I could have done, right? Its not as if I could follow him across 3 lanes of traffic and had calm conversation with him on the sidewalk.
But it just really bugged me that I didn’t do anything. What dopers have done in that same situation?
Wait up - you were supposedly driving, but reading a magazine at the same time? So you drove 3 or 4 feet into a 5-foot crosswalk (ie, you weren’t paying attention, and almost completely blocked a crosswalk because…somehow reading was more important to you than negotiating a 5,000lb automobile?
What I would have done in the same situation is apologise profusely for being an asshole, and vowed not to do so again. You need to brush up on your driving skills, methinks.
Let it go - the guy was more right to point out that you were too far into the crosswalk than you were to be there in the first place. It’s rare, but I know of one person who was actually ticketed for blocking a crosswalk (in Ontario) years ago.
As for reading the magazine…WTF? You’re driving a car. Sure, your car is stopped at a red light, but that’s not an excuse; you’re just as distracted as someone texting or talking on a cell phone and there’s a reason those things are increasingly banned (Hint: it’s dangerous).
Oh, and - crosswalks are that wide for various reasons. Sometimes distracted (cough) drivers might accidentally let their foot off the brake and bump forward a bit - which is why typically there’s a line painted a few feet further back from the crosswalk indicating that you should stop there. Sometimes people in wheelchairs need to get across the street, or blind people, and having to navigate around your car could be dangerous. Sometimes a little kid might lag behind a parent and be unseen in front of your car bumper, and you might think it’s clear…
Great, so instead of reading while driving, you’re reading while you’re supposed to be driving, i.e. once the light has turned green. I hate getting stuck behind red-light texters and readers.
Anyway, to answer the OP, I’d have felt embarrassed for driving like a douche and stopping halfway across the crosswalk and vowed not to do it again.
But…what’s to do about it? Maybe flip him off, but that risks him flying off the handle and coming back and spitting on you or your car, etc. Escalation gains nothing unless you’re willing to commit to unlimited warfare. Hell, the guy might be carrying a concealed weapon…
I, once, rapped – no, slammed my fists with all my might – on a car as it roared past me. The (checking, is this the Pit? No? Um…) jackknob jerkhammer driver didn’t stop at all going through the intersection, and passed within inches of me! I hope I put a dent in the s.o.b.'s trunk!
(But…I was on foot, and the intersection was busy, so, if he’d stopped, I could have gotten away pretty easily…)
And, yeah, I’ve stopped my car a few feet too far forward, partly into crosswalks, a handful of times, usually because I couldn’t stop safely behind the line, usually because some puckerwaste was tailgating me…
90% of drivers are idiots. The other 10% overestimate their driving skills!
You were still driving - in control (or apparently not, in your case) of a vehicle. And you spaced out, fucked up and drifted almost completely across a cross-walk. And then somehow you expect sympathy because someone gasp touched your car?
I can’t believe you didn’t get out of your car, throw your magazine down in disgust, and start beating the living hell out of the old codger. Who the hell does he think he is for alerting you to the fact that YOU SHOULD PUT THE ****ING MAGAZINE DOWN AND STOP BLOCKING CROSSWALKS.
The only way that being tailgated would be relevant is if you waited so long to brake for the crosswalk that you had to stop suddenly and slam on your brakes. If you gradually decelerate, it doesn’t matter if the person behind you is following closely or not. In other words, pay attention to your driving and don’t let the person following you be in control of your car.
Let’s get off the point about the reading. I included it merely as a portrayal of what I was doing but didn’t expect it to be an issue. I can see the light out of the corner of my eye and there is no law against reading while at a red. It was perfectly fine and I do it all the time.
And seriously, driving like a douche? Its not like I parked the car across on purpose. I wasn’t able to make the yellow so I stopped, but was over the line.
I didn’t space out or drift. I stopped completely and happened to be across the line. THEN I picked up the magazine.
Well, then your drivers ed instructor did you a disservice. If you cannot slow down enough to stop behind the crosswalk at a stoplighted intersection when the light turns red, you were driving too fast to begin with. And if you find the wait for the light to turn red so interminable you simply must have something to read, please do us all a favor and stick to public transport.
Why? Is it now wrong to point out that someone’s being a fuckwit? Would it hurt their feelings too much? Would it be ignoring their special snowflake status? What?
Not saying the OP’s a fuckwit- for all I know you’re cool. Just saying.
Like I said, I was trying to make the light but realized I couldn’t. I’m not saying it wasn’t wrong, but seemed like a paltry thing to keep nagging over and over like it was some huge deal. I know it was wrong and will try to do better in the future, ok? NOW that I’ve admitted that, can you move on to the question, which is what you would have done in that situation, not what you would have liked the situation to be in the first place?
Sometimes I can be a fuckwit, but in this case I think the guy was more in the wrong than I am. I’m curious what other people would have done in the situation and not, again, what they would have liked the situation to be in the first place
Was this in Lincoln? I do this sometimes, myself. It’s not a crime to be a bad driver, but it’s certainly nothing to be proud of. Just like to let people know that their bad driving isn’t unnoticed. Like you say, I never damage anyone’s vehicle. People really hate to have their car touched, well they should get their brakes checked and/or pay more attention to their driving. If you weren’t in the crosswalk, I doubt the old codger would have thought to touch your car. Seems pretty simple.
How exactly was he in the wrong? For pointing out your mistake? He was pissed- not wrong, IMO. For touching your car? Is it made of gold and untouchable except by white-gloved servants? Then, okay, maybe he was wrong, but you should keep that thing garaged, then.