Pedestrian fool- wrong side of road in camo gear at dusk

So the pedestrian was on the left? Well yes it’s annoying but needing to pull over when you’ve driven past a khaki fool safely seems a bit extreme reaction wise.

i've also been very shaken when I came too close to a pedestrian in a grey coat in front of a grey flint wall - he was very hard to see, and I remember it 25 years later.

as a pedestrian, it is easy to forget how hard you are to see from in a car, and hi-vis should be more common.

Round my way, the students ride around on bikes with no lights, dressed in dark clothing. Many a time I've come across one in the dark whilst going to a night shift. They're a menace.

Pedestrians don’t realise how quickly the fading light makes it difficult to see from a car. I do try to wear something light coloured at night.
it’s also harder for us as so many cars are grey, black, steel blue or basically themed to blend in with the tarmac. Lights don’t always help on urban roads as there are lights everywhere.

Yes it's horribly dangerous, but am not sure what the solution is. Adding mandatory reflective bands on all bags and jackets possibly, In many places there's nowhere to walk, and most of us don't own reflective clothing. Could we make it a legal requirement for manufacturers? I am not sure.

I have ended up on roads I wasn't planning to when I am running, I am aware I am wearing non-reflective clothing but there's not much I can do when I am stuck there.

I agree that people should know which side of the road to walk, but realistically even if he had been facing the traffic like he should, he wouldn't have been more visible anyway.

Yes, and I can’t for the life of me understand why most kids coats are black or navy, with no reflective strips on. Every winter I go out of my way looking for something suitable AND light coloured. Yes I understand I’ll have to wash it more, but surely it’s a small price to pay for keeping a child safe on the road.

If you are a cyclist on a road at night you have to have lights etc... why not pedestrians too?

Yes we have torches for this sort of situation. But just a query was it before or after a bend or curve? Because you're meant to switch sides in those cases before moving back again

Same as all the cyclists in black. Or a hi-viz top covered by a black rucksack. I d a nea miss a few days ago. Utterly invisible.

I've been shaken twice recently by pedestrians.

Driving through a busy city centre with two queuing lanes going each way and metal barriers between the footpath and the road. There are designated lights controlled crossing points at intervals for pedestrians. Man had climbed the barriers and crossed through the traffic. I started to pull forward when the traffic started to move, then had to do an emergency stop as he suddenly emerged into my path, crossed in front of me and then jumped the fence.

Second one was driving into a retail park with the car park in the middle and shops around the sides. There are several zebra crossing points to safely cross the access road. It was busy and I was concentrating on turning around a roundabout when two people tumbled out of the bushes and walked across the roundabout. If there had been a gap on the roundabout and I'd pulled away, I'd have hit them.

He would have had a face and he would have been aware of traffic being near him and the relative positions of it and him.

It’s so dangerous. When I go out for a run at night I wear high viz and a head torch, even if I don’t plan to stray away from the pavements. If I was walking in an unlit stretch of road I would absolutely have that stuff on too.

I know why you are supposed to face the traffic, but it doesn't really make you more visible to people!

Just drive carefully

Ok, he was on the wrong side - but had it been the right side for him, it would still be you who would be expected to go around him, not him to jump out of your way to the bushes.
So the difference for you is minimal, isn't it?

Which means, everyone needs to be driving more carefully, because pedestrians are road users as well, and forcing them to wear hi-vis is riddicullous, they aren't the one who go high speed in big metal boxes.

What I don't understand is that as a pedestrian I would always want to be facing the traffic coming closest to me. Why are they ok with it coming from right behind them? Especially those with headphones on!

I disagree. Faces are more visible than the back of their heads which is why people who don't want to be "seen" cover their faces.

I really wouldn't count on cars seeing me just because it's my face and not the back of my head that's facing them

Even if they are driving reasonably slow.

Well I wouldn't bank on any car drivers seeing me anyway, face forward or not but I do think I'd have a better chance if I was facing the traffic, as I should be. I thought that's what the OP was about. I don't think you can make ordinary people wear something reflective, particularly when they might not have planned to be on a road anyway. They might not be wearing a coat or carrying a bag.

Many schools insist on such coats

Drive more carefully. Pay more attention.

I was approaching a jogger who was on the near side pavement, without looking behind them, or breaking their stride, they just ran out in front of my car to cross the road..I think there was about half a foot between us as I passed. I stopped because I wasn't sure if he had run into the side of the car. He just carried on past me, didn't even acknowledge me. Seemed more interested in his headphones.

I loved my orange silver arm bands
Be bright
Be light
Be seen at night
Brought to you by a 70s public info film
Think I'd been 5 or 6.

Before that it was
At night
Wear white.

Good old days of public information films on TV and at the cinema. Telling you to walk facing oncoming traffic if there was no pavement, not to play near railway lines or fly kites near them, don’t cross at a railway crossing if the lights are flashing and the barrier’s coming down, and never to climb into an old fridge.

How do children learn these things nowadays? I suppose they just don’t.

I may have not got the wording right but to be fair it's about 55yrs ago.
Loved a public info film some were bloody scary.
Showed they worked