You are lucky that the police were not around to give you a ticket, although it would probably be a no point obstructing ticket.
It can happen to anybody approaching a light that turns and you decide not to proceed after you have already entered the crosswalk. But it should be rare. People who walk and bike depend on these safety zones. When people violate them, there is ample reason to be mad. Consider it a not so subtle reminder to pay more attention.
I would have been irritated, but I would have let it go. Dude was behaving prickishly by doing that. Prickish people can snap at any moment and hurt you. Not worth the hassle of doing anything other ignoring him.
I think he was in the wrong both socially and legally. Not legally as in I have some right not to have my car touched, but legally as in my violations are between me and the law, and he shouldn’t be acting like he had any standing to knock on the hood of my car if he wasn’t a cop or in law enforcement. Socially, its just bad form to be touching anyone’s car, even if there’s no law against it. I have tried to keep that in mind if I see anyone leaning on my car so I usually don’t say anything, but to use an aggressive motion on my property, I think, is worse than a little violation that most people probably do a couple times a day and didn’t end up hurting him in any way.
Not exactly hard to say sorry.
when I have accidentally blocked the crosswalk, I have the good sense to feel bad about it. I’m forcing pedestrians closer to moving traffic, forcing them to walk around me. It’s not cool.
It also doesn’t help that you buried your face in a magazine, so he couldn’t express his annoyance visually. Thus, the only way to say, “hey, I’m walking here!” is to rap your hood.
I’ve done the same thing as the OP once or twice - tried to make a light but had to stop, and I was in the sidewalk. You know what I do? I put it in reverse and back up a bit so I’m not the jerk blocking the sidewalk.
As a pedestrian, I greatly dislike sidewalk blockers. That means I’m closer to cross traffic, and closer to possibly getting hit. I prefer to not get hit by a vehicle most days.
You were in the wrong. He called you out on it (tapping on your car to get your attention, he didn’t hurt your car in any way).
More people should be called out on their douchy behaviors. In this case, both stopping over a crosswalk AND reading a magazine while stopped at a redlight. People act like assholes because everyone lets them get away with it.
In this situation as the driver, I would have either just done nothing, as what happened, or made some sort of “sorry” gesture, as I would have seen the guy coming, because I pay attention to what’s around me even when the brakes are fully applied. I would have seen the angry pedestrian approaching. After all, an old man could fall in front of my bumper or something, and by not keeping an eye out the window at an intersection, I wouldn’t know until I ran him over because he would be out of view.
People are right to give the OP shit over reading at an intersection. Just because nothing bad has happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t. My favorite thing to tell people who let their dogs off-leash illegally is this: “Nothing bad EVER happens… Until it does.” Being in a vehicle with the ignition engaged is the same sort of thing, you’re still at an active intersection with pedestrians and other traffic, even if you’re not moving and your light is red. A vehicle turning from the right and into the lane opposing yours, could easily lose control (avoiding a pedestrian or something) and slam into your car and you’d never see it coming.
In th OP’s situation, I’d probably have raised my palm and lowered my head in contrition.
My sympathies are with the inconvenienced pedestrian, not the thoughtless driver.
Yes. If you weren’t reading a magazine, he would have been able to flip you off, like civilized people.
Also, picture this: 9:00a.m. on a Thanksgiving morning on the south side of town. My friend is in her car, sitting at a light. She happens to look up into her rear-view mirror and sees a guy walking towards her car door pulling a gun out of his hip. She speeds off, thus averting tragedy. If it had been you, that magazine could have been the last thing you ever saw. Might want to pay attention to what’s going on around you at all times.
When I make a mistake that blocks or endangers a pedestrian or bicyclist I feel bad and mouth sorry at them. Sometimes I do stupid things, sure, and I’m sure people have thought I was an ass. I don’t like to think of myself as an ass in general, but I have my inconsiderate moments, like anyone, and I genuinely feel bad and try to learn from my mistake. Also, when I’m the pedestrian who almost gets hit by a car I’ll give the driver the finger. Circle of life.
Blocking most of the crosswalk makes the driver in the wrong. Learn from your mistake, perhaps.
Blocking part of a crosswalk? Minor mistake, happens to everyone once in a while, but it shouldn’t be a habit.
Reading a magazine at a red light? Not cool. No excuse for that one.
Had you actually reacted to someone rapping on your hood by yelling at the guy, or getting out of the car, or otherwise escalating the situation? Whoa. That would have been serious, major league jerk type activity.
I would have been paying attention while stopped at the light and indicated some kind of apology, with or without the non-damaging knock on the hood of my car. I think your failure to pay attention when the pedestrian was crossing further escalated the situation. A gentle but firm rap on the hood is closer to a public service to getting a distracted driver to pay attention, as opposed to being a hair’s breadth away from being an assault on you.
ETA: Socially, I think it is a good thing when people who break norms of behavior get called out in a non-insulting or non-violent way. Whether it is crossing the line at the light, talking in a movie theater, or being obnoxious in public, I think people ought to know when they are inconveniencing others. It’s not a moral judgment on you, it is just reflecting the reality that you did something that had an impact on someone other than yourself.
I would have done the hands up “sorry” gesture when I saw him glaring at me, before the rap on the car. That, of course, would have prevented (most likely) the rap. Sorry, dude, you are the one in the wrong here.
If I was the pedestrian and had noticed that you were reading I might have worried that you start inching or idling farther into the intersection right into me. I don’t usually get that irritated at drivers who block the walkway because I’m a driver too and realize that sometimes it happens without me having a lot of control over it.
If this happened to me I wouldn’t have been reading and would have made some sort of apology motion to the walker. The walker might have been more irritated that you were not paying attention.
No. Your violation directly inconvenienced him. That’s why it was a violation. The only correct response is an apology, as many others have already said.
Mrs. Manners 101: touching other people’s property is poor etiquette; or two wrongs don’t make a right.
(Imagine the pedestrian writing the OP: “A guy stopped partway into the crosswalk where I was walking, and then ignored me. What should I have done?” Would “Rap on the hood of his car with your knuckles” really be the best advice this forum could offer?)
(Of course, it depends on what city it happens in. There are places in L.A. where automatic weapons fire would have resulted…)
As someone who has been hit by a car that I was walking directly in front of while it was stopped, I will rap on the hood or do whatever I need to do to make sure I have a driver’s attention… now. Getting hit by a car hurts.
Really, driving is such a dangerous activity that I’m all for eliminating all sorts of ‘genteelism’ if it will ensure all parties involved have a clear idea of who’s standing where and at what approximate speed.
Who the fuck keeps a magazine in the car for reading at stoplights? Everyone knows that is the time you are supposed to play air guitar/head bang to whatever is on the classic rock station you should be listening to.
I’ve almost been mowed down while crossing a street legally in a crosswalk three times this year so far. I agree with everyone who has said that stopping in the crosswalk is a jerk (and illegal) thing to do.
YogSosoth, you’re acting like stopping in a crosswalk at a red light is inevitable; I disagree with this. If your car is over the crosswalk when you stop, you’ve done something wrong as a driver.