Someone just very nearly killed me.

[EnchantedAutumn]

I haven't had such an experience before, and feel quite shaken.

We were out walking early this afternoon along the canal side. At a road bridge we stood at the crossing and waited for the traffic to stop to allow us to pass.

Half way over the crossing a vehicle sped up from the other side and missed me by about an inch. We were extremely visible and there were no large vehicles blocking the driver's view. Very few cars about actually.

This was so quick and it was almost speeding, so extremely shocking. Other drivers stopped and asked me was I ok, whilst DH spun around like a drama queen very very angry, whilst I tried to catch the registration - sadly could not get it all.
Dh was so upset, although I felt a little numb. I saw it as a very lucky thing to still be alive, but also angry that someone could change or end my life so brutally and easily in a fraction of a second.
I choose to presume that the driver was distracted, rather than happy to slaughter me, but it still feels so shocking.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? It was so, so close it has really knocked me. I doubt I would have survived had it hit me.
A sudden shock like this is probably common, and yet the idea of my life changing suddenly due to disease or accident feels easier to bear than someone just casually mowing me over.

If something similar has happened to you, how did you process it? I feel much better a few hours later, but still really weird.

It is worth mentioning, remain careful. Both whilst driving and walking.

No, it's not even true that they will act if there's film (or multiple witnesses).

There have been two hit and run incidents near me (thankfully not fatal but caused enough injury for the people concerned to go to hospital) - no police action.

And then a van decided to stop on a roundabout and reverse into the car behind - police did nothing. We think the van driver was a relative or close friend of the local police commissioner!

That sounds terrifying OP. Glad you're OK, physically anyway. I know what you mean when you say you hate vehicles. My friend was killed by someone who jumped a red light and for many years I just hated cars. In fact, I didn't learn to drive for nearly 20 years after that happened. I kept thinking that if they didn't exist, my friend would still be here.

Actually, yesterday, we were in Piccadilly Circus and several cars ran right through a red light, just as people were stepping out into the road. I had to pull my DD back. I always tell my kids not to think drivers are going to stop just because it's a red light/green man. Just because they're supposed to, doesn't mean they will.

Yes, happened to me on a zebra crossing. Car actually ran into me though (not at high speed, I was just bruised and grazed)-I was on my way to work. I got up, screamed at the driver, hit his car a few times and stomped off to work. By the time I got to work, the shock had worn off, I burst into tears as soon as I saw my colleagues and suddenly felt pain everywhere.
I didn’t so much as get the reg plate. Didn’t even occur to me to report him.
My injuries were very very minor-almost non existent. Just bruises and grazes here and there, but I still should have taken his details and reported him 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sympathies OP. I came within an inch of being knocked down some years ago (both at fault, I was dashing out between two parked cars in a car park to get to bus I needed to catch and the driver was going far far too fast in said car park). It took me a good while to stop thinking about it, and longer to regain confidence in crossing the road.

With all these near misses people talk about isn't it surprising that so many people were enraged by the Welsh 20mph in urban areas speed limit? Average people are just not capable of consistently driving safely at any significant speed.

A similar thing happened to me years ago, a car speeding round a corner lost control and drove onto the pavement right beside me. I was an inch from being hit. I had stopped to look in a shop window for a couple of seconds then carried on walking. Those few seconds save my life because the car swerved past just after that and drove fully on the pavement right in front of me while the driver regained control. I was in shock for the rest of the day. I just let myself think about it whenever I wanted and gradually over a week or so the wtf feeling wore off.

What a horrible thing to happen to you, not surprised you are so shaken and i hope that the coming days find you feeling a little better. I have this theory that some drivers see their vehicles as purely private spaces and that they can do as they please in them. There is a very busy crossing close to my home and many drivers jump the red light despite there being cameras, It is on a busy route to several schools and the supermarket so there are a lot of pedestrians who often have to retreat back onto the pavement as these selfish law breaking divers speed along ignoring the red lights. i fear that one day a pedestrian will be badly hurt or worse.

A car rammed into the back of me at speed on a dual carriageway that was slowing up, pushing my car up a verge and over a barrier. It was a write off and I was lucky that I wasn't hurt. Thank god for good seatbelts and airbags. It happened in a split second.

I haven't driven on that bit of road since, luckily it's not somewhere I need to go too often, and I know a slight detour.

Shock can take you in all sorts of ways OP... just be careful with it as you process what happened, sorry to hear about it.

Omgosh OP, I hope you were ok.

I had it recently where a car went through a red light /green man as I was crossing with my dog.
I'm hate crossing roads as it is.

A lorry was overtaking me on the A14, drove parallel for me for a while, then started to pull over - I must have been in their blind spot. I lent on the horn and tried to slow (there were cars behind) but I was convinced I was going to be killed. The wheels seemed bigger than the car and they came towards me. Terrifying. I am still uncomfortable around lorries if they overtake, although most drivers are great.

OMG that sounds awful @EnchantedAutumn A very similar thing happened to me some months ago. I was walking in a narrow country lane (no footpaths, and on a bend,) and I heard a vehicle coming.

So I squashed into the bushes (got stung by nettles too,) and the van that I had heard, was doing around 50 mph, and whizzed around the corner missing me by about 3 inches!

His face was like as he clearly didn't expect to see a pedestrian on the road.

Always expect the expected when you're a driver, and especially when you're going around a bend. There could be a cyclist, or a horse, or a tractor - or, in my case, a pedestrian! Hope you're OK OP!

I got ran over on a zebra crossing as a child. The woman was pissing around with her car radio and wasn’t looking at the road. By the time I realised the car wasn’t slowing down and she wasn’t looking, I was already right in front of her car and froze in fright. I’ve had false teeth since then as not only did she knock my baby teeth out, but damaged my adult ones in my jaw. Only last year my DD’s best friend (13yo) was hit and killed after a speeding car overtook the school bus she’d just got off. She was one of a twin as well :/

As a pedestrian and cyclist, I’ve had so many near misses with cars thanks to drivers either being on their phones, not fit to drive or just not caring.

The worst was a Range Rover speeding down a very narrow two way street and deciding to use the pavement to undertake the stalled traffic. Only running into someone’s garden saved me because he sped the length of the path I’d been on, clipped all parked cars, then went out of a t junction onto a main road, pulling out in front of a moving bus.

I have no doubt that he would have run me over and kept driving without a thought because he was not stopping.

If I wanted to kill someone in this country I’d do it with a car. The punishment for killing someone through dangerous driving is insulting. We are a nation of car fetishists and dangerous driver excusers.

I honestly think some drivers are unhinged, and enjoy the power of putting the fear of death in you.

I witnessed a bus driver nearly hit a teenage girl crossing the road last week also. He sped up.

So sorry you had this happen, OP.

Well l was actually nearly murdered.. l have posted about this before . An ex threw me under a moving bus.. and left me for dead...l was put into a coma.. left severely disabled.
He's still in prison now.

Yes. Nearly got mown down by a large articulated lorry mounting the pavement. I honestly thought I was going to die.
I was knocked down once. A woman driving turned round to talk to her child in the back and knocked me down on a pedestrian crossing. I was knocked unconscious but ultimately fine.

There was a pedestrian crossing on a road bridge? Sounds like very poor road planning to me

Gosh. I'm sorry to hear this.

I'm sorry you experienced that @EnchantedAutumn .
Unfortunately experienced something similar with my dd & new dgc.
This woman just didn't see the lights were red.
She saw mine were, when it turned out she was going to the same place as we were & I clocked her.
She got it loudly from me. Angry didn't come close.

Something similar has happened to me on a crossing (the kind without lights where pedestrians have right of way, I can't remember what they're called). We were visibly about to cross, so cars were slowing down, but one came shooting past anyway. If we had just trusted the right of way and not checked if cars were actually slowing down before fully stepping out things might have gone badly. I'm probably overly cautious on crossings tbh because it only takes one idiot. I saw somebody run a red light at the crossing all the kids at my daughter's nursery use the other day too, around pick up time. It is scary and it's not surprising at all if you're feeling a bit traumatised by it all. All we can do is try to be aware of our surroundings, as it sounds like you were.

I have this theory that some drivers see their vehicles as purely private spaces and that they can do as they please in them

It’s exactly that @lifeonmars100 - ‘I have a car, now I’m the main character - everyone should get out of my way, every light should be green, the road is for my personal use’.

I’ve got a friend who in day to day life is generally quiet, if passive aggressive when it comes to asserting herself, but when she gets behind the wheel she is a demon! I refuse to get in a car with her now as she’s going to either kill someone or be killed for her behaviour. And she is as bad with her kids with her, as they’ve told me about ‘mummy was fighting with a man in another car today on the way to school’.

Shockingly this happened to me at 9months pregnant during lockdown. I chose to cross a pretty deserted dual carriageway (obviously busy in usual times) just beyond a roundabout but at a crossing . Admittedly the 'man' was red. A car suddenly came barrelling through, switched lanes, and drove straight at me. I pushed myself as fast as I could and just got to the pavement in time whilst my husband looked on in shock!
I think it was a control thing, like I was being punished for crossing when the signals for cars were green. Im not sure how obvious my pregnancy was from a distance but they must have realised at the last minute. It really shook me up, so much so that I'm clearly still thinking about it!

Yes, my fault though. I bent over to tie my shoe lace at a road crossing and a lorry went past fast and actually hit my hat. I was an inch away from it hitting my head. I don't know what i was thinking but have been hyper-vigilant every since.
Close call, OP. Don't underestimate how shaken you'll be for a while.

How do you think people cross streams and rivers in rural areas? They use bridges. Dedicated pedestrian bridges are rare as there are too few people for the money.

At least five years ago, I stopped with my family at the end of a fast road, at a traffic light. We pressed the button and prepared to cross on green. We started as it had changed, and a car did not stop at the light; it just plowed through their red light and onto the roundabout very fast. It was horrendous. If we had started to cross, he could have killed me or my children. It still flashes back when I am near that road. I reckon they were on their phone. I imagine you'll be shaken up for a while. Take care OP.