OP, have you considered audiobooks or podcasts?
Was there room behind you to back up? Or didn’t you even bother to look?
He was too busy doing the sudoku.
Putting myself in the OP’s position, after the rap on my hood, I would have held up my hands in apology. No matter how alert I knew myself to be, it would be easy to see how a pedestrian would think I wasn’t paying attention since I’d
a) rolled well into the crosswalk, and;
b) started reading instead of (from the pedestrian’s perspective) paying attention to what was going on in front of me.
If I were a pedestrian in that circumstance and I had to walk in front of a car whose driver didn’t appear to be very alert, I’d want to be damn sure that he noticed me in front of his vehicle before something bad happened. Gesturing isn’t going to work with a magazine in front of his face, so I’d probably knock on the hood.
So, even if I felt I’d been driving just fine and was fully justified in reading while at the light, I would have still apologized to the pedestrian for giving him reason to be concerned.
You were in his way, and he was letting you know that. It’s akin to tapping someone on the shoulder to let them know they’re in your way when you need to get by them. I don’t think it’s a violation of your property any more than a tap on the shoulder is a bodily assault. Sure, he wasn’t polite about it, but you were being kind of clueless so it was the only way he could communicate with you.
The legality is kind of a red herring. You were definitely breaking the law by being over the line, and I wouldn’t be surprised if reading in an vehicle you are currently operating in traffic, stopped or not, is illegal too. But he probably wasn’t saying “hey, what you’re doing here is illegal!”, he was saying “hey, what you’re doing here is really inconveniencing me and creating an unnecessarily dangerous situation - and you’re making it worse by not even paying attention to the pedestrians you’re forcing out into traffic!”
You stop in the crosswalk a couple of times a day? I don’t drive regularly, but should that happen that often?
I get that stopping in the crosswalk is the kind of thing that can happen to even a good driver once in a while, but frankly I’m kind of amazed that anyone would try to defend that scenario as if they were in the right.
I’m sure you’re happy, then, about Alberta’s proactive distracted driving law? Hopefully you’ll be safer on the streets now! (Funny, since a Toronto-born friend of mine living in Calgary was just ranting on Facebook today about the bad and distracted drivers she’s been encountering lately 
)
Under it, the OP’s reading of a magazine while in control of a vehicle is, in fact, illegal. It should be noted that Alberta’s is the strictest distracted driving regulation in North America (as of it’s date of effect).
I’m not, actually, because they wussed out on leaving people free to distract themselves with handsfree devices, which, as we should all know by now, are just as distracting as handheld devices.
I’d like to see a hell of a lot more enforcement, too. People still drive distracted because they know, regardless of the law, that they’ll get away with it.
While not directly applicable (and probably a different jurisdiction), a California appeals court just ruled that using a cell phone while stopped at a light is just as illegal as using it while the car is in motion.
Are you fucking kidding? You’re reading a magazine while operating a motor vehicle and also blocking a crosswalk, and you have the audacity to complain about a pedestrian touching your vehicle when crossing? I imagine you were startled by that guy who had the nerve to cross the road in front of you at the traffic control device, and wanted some reassurance that you were paying attention. Which you weren’t at the time, and of which the current state of your vehicle would suggest that this wasn’t a singular lapse.
What would I have done in that situation? Felt suitably chastened.
I look forward to reading your upcoming complaint about that guy who expected you to use your turn signal while you were brushing your hair.
To be honest, if he had just glared at me and I saw it, I probably would have put my hands up and given him a contrite look.
Second, there was no room to back up, its a busy intersection next to a couple of big office buildings
Last, I really think people are making too big of a deal over the magazine. The car was stopped and I knew this intersection well so I wasn’t going to be ready 5 or 10 seconds after the light changed. So what if I read? The car is stopped. Even if there was an emergency, its not like I could back up, or go forward into a busy intersection, I was stuck. So why shouldn’t I read?
I do feel bad about it, but there was still enough room for him to walk without leaving the crosswalk. This isn’t a small street, its 3 lanes each direction with a 4th for left turns.
Yes, I was in the wrong, I feel bad about it. But I don’t think it was assholish of me to block it a bit. Especially considering how I’ve told you all it was an accident. Maybe from his point of view, but for you people who have heard me explain the situation, you should have a different opinion. Unless your definition of being an asshole is any behavior that is a slight inconvenience to someone
You’re assuming I kept going while I was reading? No, I said I stopped before I started reading. There was no movement in the car, and reading a magazine will not cause my foot to let off the brake. I would not have hit anyone, and there is no possible way that it would ever happen unless the guy jumped out of the car in front of me and ran towards my car while it is still moving.
To clarify even more, after I stopped at the left turn lane, the guy had to cross 3 lanes to get to my car. It was at least 10 seconds until after I had fully stopped that he reached my car. He was in no danger
First, you’re wrong. Nothing can happen while my car is not moving. In fact, if anything does hit me, it would be the moving object’s fault since there is no way a stopped car at a light is capable of moving out of the way of something coming towards it. I could only go forward, whatever comes at me would have blocked my exit.
Second, no, if a car is on, that doesn’t automatically mean I’m “driving”. I was essentially parked.
Last, a vehicle hitting me in the way you described would be his fault, not mine, and I would not be able to avoid him anyways, so my reading a magazine has no bearing on anyone else’s safety but mine
If the guy had flipped me off, I’d have no sympathy for him and would not even be making this topic. The fact that I’m asking people what they would do shows I at least acknowledge my fault in crossing over the line. I’m convinced, by you guys, that his knocking on the car wasn’t really a big deal, which was the belief I wanted reinforcement of.
Your friend was lucky, but that’s more of an argument for keeping myself safe, not being an asshole magazine reader. I doubt that she’s always that alert, nor are you scanning the mirrors and windows at every single intersection you ever stop at. Neither will I do that, and to suggest that its a significant safety issue for me is silly. I could also avoid trees during the rain for fear of lightning, but the chances are remote. Its not a convincing argument for not reading a magazine
I do acknowledge that I did something wrong, but like you said, its a minor thing. I don’t really think that the proper response, or a forgivably ok response, by the other guy was to knock on my car or give me the finger. If anybody’s interested in what I think, and probably not many of you are now that I keep defending the magazine thing, I think that he should have took it as the minor convenience that it is and not touched my car. Throw me a look, and if I was busy reading, oh well, move on. He didn’t know I wasn’t going to escalate it (I’m totally not that kind of person), but I may have. What if I was a psycho with a gun just itching to go after someone who’s pissed me off? He didn’t know I wasn’t. So he should have just let it go.
Still, the magazine thing is a lost cause. My car was stopped, it was a red light, and I wouldn’t have been able to dodge my car out of the way of anything coming at me. I was perfectly safe reading a magazine and so was everyone around me
No. Reading a magazine does not mean I lose control of my feet. There was no inching, nor will there ever be. I’ve played video games on my DS while at a red. I’ve eaten rice with chopsticks. I’ve closed my eyes and rested them when I was tired. Never once did my foot ever move itself off the pedal. That is pretty much an impossibility
You shouldn’t assume everyone’s going to do that. At a certain point, it would no longer be you simply being prudent, but you being paranoid. Look at it from my point of view, I’m not going to assume the next person this happens to with me is going to knock on my car. I’m not going to be watching out for it if I accidentally do this again. Neither do I think you should go around knocking on everyone’s cars.
No room, and yes I did look. However, and I suppose you’re going to be upset at me further for this disclosure, had there been room, I would not have backed up. I don’t consider a few feet into a crosswalk to be a major enough violation that would make me back up. I would only back up if I was in the way of other cars in the lane or completely blocked the crosswalk, neither of which happened
Don’t have an iPod, and no I haven’t. I read weekly and monthly magazines and books in the car. The drive to and from work is the perfect time for me to get in a few pages.
If people are in my way, unless they are completely blocking me, I’d just walk around them. Its too much hassle to tell everyone in violation of some minor social code to correct themselves. Sure I’d wish death on people who stop at the foot of escalators in my mind, but I wouldn’t tap them on the shoulder and ask them to please talk somewhere else.
Its not a big deal, and by that I mean that it is against the law like jaywalking, speeding, or not wearing a seat belt is against the law. Even if a cop saw it, I’d say 9 times out of 10 he would also consider it too minor to do something about. Now I don’t say that to say my behavior is ok, clearly its not and I try to avoid it, but to make a big deal out of one incident is kind of nuts
Maybe a “couple” times is overestimating. I don’t know, I don’t pay attention to how many times I do this.
Good thing I don’t live there. I would have a serious disagreement if my representative passed this law, as I wouldn’t consider “driving” to be “stopping at a red light with my foot on the brakes”. If that’s driving, then sitting in a parking lot with your engine on is driving
From your words, it seems like you and other people are somehow assuming I was moving at the time. If it makes any difference to you guys, I had stopped at least 10 seconds before the guy even made it to my car in the middle of the intersection. Thus I did not “cross” the road in front of him, as I see that as actively crossing and moving. If I were you, I’d retype that to instead say the guy saw a car stopped across the line, which sounds less bad than how you put it. Repeat: the car was not moving and he could see that. Its nearly inconceivable to think that I would take my foot off the brakes just because I’m reading. I was in perfect control of a non-moving, parked car, and was not in a danger to him or anyone else
Being in a car stopped at a red light is nothing like being parked in a parking lot, and I’d be very surprised if the average police officer thought they were the same at all.
I know almost everyone bends the rules a bit while driving, but you seem to have an unusually cavalier attitude towards driving. I’ve never in my life heard of someone who thinks their morning commute through a busy urban area is a good time to catch up on some light reading.
As a pedestrian, drivers like you make me incredibly nervous. You probably made this guy incredibly nervous. Pedestrians are at a serious disadvantage in traffic, being all soft and squishy and surrounded by multiple tons of metal weilded by people who, by and large, vastly overestimate their ability to multitask while driving. This guy had every right to be concerned about his safety.
Unless the car was in park, preferably with the key out of the ignition, there isn’t a good excuse for reading a magazine while in control of a deadly weapon.
I’d bang on your hood for that if you were anywhere near my crosswalk.
What stupid question is this Yog? You trespass on the pedestrian zone, which is at the very least negligence, and then, to show how concerned you are about it to the outside world, you go for crosswords at a red light? You’re lucky not to have had a trashcan thrown at your windshield.
That you would post about it and expect a positive reaction to your behaviour is more than weird.
I’ve knocked on the car.
Well with your carefree attitude toward driving this will obviously keep happening. Maybe next time you’ll look up from the magazine to find a gang walking across your hood. I’ve seen it happen.
I really don’t understand all the fuss about the magazine. If he said he was checking his map or adjusting his GIS, I doubt we would see all this outrage. What is the difference? He was NOT MOVING. Unless he is not reacting to a green light, how does his reading a magazine affect any one else in the slightest bit?
As far as the cross walk, people seem to misunderstanding his point. Seemed to me he admitted it was an error and that he was in the wrong (and nobody here has accidentally stopped to close to the crosswalk?), but THAT IS NOT THE POINT OF THE POST. The point is what ensued after – ie was the person right for striking his car? And should he have reacted to it?
My two cents:
If you stopped just short of hitting the person (if they were already in the walk), then hitting the car is understandable.
If you were already there, then they are being a dick by hitting your car. You shouldn’t go around hitting other people’s property. Seems pretty simple.
As far as your reaction, a bit of a tough call. He was in the wrong, certainly, but a fairly minor offense. Also, it didn’t come out of nowhere – it was in response to your error. I say maybe give him some kind of sarcastic look or gesture, but anything else is escalating the issue beyond what it should be.
You forgot to mention that the magazine should be read at least 50 feet from the car and that you should be wearing a helmet while doing so.
Man, you really need to evaluate your driving skills and attitude to the world. You ask what I would do in that situation:
a) I would pay more attention when I drive so that I don’t block crosswalks, this is akin to blocking another lane of traffic;
b) I would abandon the practice of reading at stoplights, I suspect it is a symptom of a general lack of attention while driving that leads you to do things like block crosswalks, and I would bet that you are also engaging in all other kinds of thoughtless and dangerous driving behaviors that you don’t even know you are doing;
C) I would examine my world view and wonder if maybe it is not too egocentric;
Finally, can I ask if you live in Marylad, by any chance? It’s just a theory I have.
Because in my experience with these people (usually it is red-light texters, not red-light magazine readers, but it’s the same principle) they do not notice when the light has gone green, and so they sit there blocking traffic for the people behind them until they are either honked at or they realize, oh, the light turned green 15 seconds ago when I was in the middle of that fascinating article on Lady Gaga. Of course the OP insists that he is not one of these people and that he always notices immediately when the light has turned green. I suspect that the people sitting behind him in traffic might disagree. And anyway, careful and attentive drivers tend not to stop their cars halfway into the middle of a crosswalk on a regular basis.
Also, as a matter of general principle, when you’re behind the wheel of a car, you shouldn’t be doing anything that takes your attention away from driving. If you need to quickly adjust your GPS (I assume that’s what you meant by GIS), OK. If you need to actually consult a map, pull over to a safe spot and do it there. And there’s no reason to sit reading a magazine when you are supposed to be in control of your car.
I don’t read at stop lights because
(1) it’s too short of a time to be satisfying, and
(2) you’re bound to miss the green light and piss the people behind you off.
Don’t really see the huge safety issues though.