Nearly ran over a pedestrian on my way to work this morning

[Sparrows12]

She was wearing a headscarf and was in her 20s - and must have either been deaf or wearing an mp3 player under her scarf. She just started stepping off the pavement in front of my bike as if I wasn't there - I rang my bell and said excuse me loudly but she still behaved as if I was completely invisible so i ended up having to shout at her - "what are you doing" etc and jam on my brakes in the drizzle. Disconcerting start to my day. I felt so shaken up I had to get off and walk for a while. Some pedestrians are incredibly stupid.

Crawling along isn't driving safely, its holding up the flow of traffic, which is an offence. An adult, with no indication of disability, is not considered a hazard in the same way that a child at the side of the road would be. If you covered the brake every time you passed a pedestrian you would fail your test.

I don't crawl along. I just drive safely. Unlike you, clearly. You surely must remember you were taught to be aware of potential hazards. It doesn't require you to crawl along or cover the brake.

Desperate - there is no such offence as holding traffic up by "crawling along"

Well I passed my test and haven't had an accident since do I must be doing something right.

HappyTurquoise

"when a cyclist went against his pedestrian red light"

The cyclist was absoulutely correct! On a bicycle, a person is a moving vehicle, just like you in your car. They only "count" as pedestrians if they're pushing the bike...

Or was it one of those special lights with a picture of both a person AND a bicycle on it? (in which case, what a wanker! shame there wasn't someone handy to give him a ticket for running a red light and teach him a lesson!)

desperately, yes, an adult is a potential hazard. You can't tell if someone is disabled, so you have no idea if they're able or not. So 'apparently physically able' is a pointless thing to say.

Even a non-disabled adult could stumble and trip into the road.

Your job if you are driving is to be in a position where you are able to avoid accidents if possible. Not to be able to say 'well, I didn't bother driving safely, please let me off, I thought being in charge of a ton of moving metal was really not a big deal so didn't bother learning any skills'.

Btw, I think the 'Darwin' comment is pretty disgusting in the context of this thread.

Sorry LRD, what context would that be?

That I said a non disabled adult that steps out in front of a car is bringing it on themselves? Because, frankly, I stand by that comment absolutely.

No, you said an 'apparently physically able adult' - ie., one with a hidden disability - is 'proving Darwin right' if they get killed because some idiot has not learned to drive safely.

That is really disgusting.

You cannot see all disabilities. That does not meant they do not exist.

The Darwin comment is vile. If you have a disability and get run over...it's Darwinism? If you are a child and run into traffic it's Darwinism?

Everyone should drive expecting hazards.

No one should have to wear a badge/item declaring their disability (gold stars anyone?)

If you have a disability impairing your senses you would be wise to employ every other sense to check for your own safety. If you have children teach them road safety. If you are a driver, expect people to fail at observing everything on a road. Roads are busy. People are distracted. Or ...take the view that injuring someone wouldn't affect you because it's their fault.... really???

[rolleyes] you're implying a meaning that isn't there purely to hoist your bossom. Which, frankly, is a really terrible debating tactic.

MissPerception- you're right; the highway code calls it "not travelling with the flow of traffic" and (IIRC) it's one of the "good idea" items rather than "you could get done for this" things...

PomBears - what system would you use to mark out the disabled so that drivers could be more aware. Would it mean a large warning triangle on their back? Would it qualify disability - hearing, sight, learning disability, mobility?

Bollocks am I implying a meaning that isn't there.

Do you accept there are some disabilities that aren't visible?

If you don't, you're an idiot.

If you do, then you accept that several of the 'apparently able people' you're talking about will have hidden disabilities.

It's really very simple.

Did you know its possible to sue a pedestrian, or his estate if they are killed, for the damage they cause to your car if they just step out?

It is scary when things like this happen OP. I have had quite a few incidents like that, now I take extra precaution when coming up to pedestrians when cycling. It's scary when a car is overtaking me and pedestrians look like they're about to step into the street though, leaving me no where to go!

We are not talking about someone with mobility issues wobbling into the road. We are talking about someone that stepped in front of a bike. Stepped. As in, took a positive action to enter the road and the flow of traffic.

So you kill someone PomBear and it's their fault, but because you can sue them it will be ok?

Yes, desperately, I did.

I am aware - as I said upthread - that sometimes people who step out do so because they're in their own world, or wearing headphones so can't hear. Sometimes pedestrians are in the wrong.

But you decided to make this all about whether or not you can tell someone is disabled, and whether or not you will bother to drive safely.

If you kill someone, it will not comfort you that they were in the wrong. You will feel like shit. Like the OP - who may well have been totally in the right today - felt shaky and awful, even though she did exactly what she was meant to do.

I was sat in my car waiting for dd1 to come out of school when I saw a 10 year old boy walk straight into the road and into the path of a car. The car threw him up. As people rushed to his side, I dialed 999 and when the paramedic arrived, miraculously he didn't have any serious injury, just sore from where he'd been hit and thrown and bad bruising later) severe shock and an overnight stay in the hospital for observation. (I phoned his school to see how he was)
It could've been so much worse.

I'm careful as a driver not because I am concerned about financial recompense but because injuring someone whether it was their fault or not, would lie heavy on my heart. Because I wish to avoid that incident I drive defensively. I also cycle defensively

To put the onus onto the pedestrian is possibly legally correct, but no comfort in the event of an accident.

I'm going to hide this thread now as I cannot abide the justification of idiocy.

Exactly, toothbrush.

That is why we're all taught to drive defensively before we pass our tests. If someone can't/won't do it, they should not be on the road.

autumn - that is awful. Thank god he was ok.

Funny, desperately, I feel the same way!