Aibu to expect abled people to move? (Pushchair related)

[Maryshoppins]

If I see a pushchair, wheel chair, person with 101 bags and so on, walking towards me, I would, without hesitation, move out of their way.

Why does it seem that whenever I am out and about with my pushchair, 9/10 times someone will continue to walk towards me with no intention of moving out the way, therefore I end up swerving at the last to move out of their pathway!

I'm particularly cross about this today, as I was walking towards a woman (and I don't mean intentionally to knock her down,) she continued to walk directly towards my pushchair, glaring at me as if to say 'are you going to move?'. For the first time, I didn't and we both came to a standstill. Sounds ridiculous I know, but I was finally fed up with the amount of rude people I encounter and wanted to be sure I wasn't completely over reacting! This lady called me all sorts, and walked past me in a huff!

Other mothers I have spoken to in the past say they encounter this a lot. But they just swerve out of the way to avoid confrontation.

I'm not normally one for causing a scene. But I am amazed that an abled person wouldn't consciously move out of the way of somebody that has a pushchair or struggling with shopping /children etc.

So, aibu?

[toffeelolly]

You were just right.

[ComposHat]

YABU

I have lost count of the number of times I have been thwacked in the shins and ankles by twats pushing those absurd three wheeled buggies the size of a sherman tank. I am silently thankful when I get off the bus unscathed by one of those monstrosities.

They might be fashionable, but in the busy centre of a medieval city they are utterly inapropriate as they take up almost all of the pavement to transport a tiny child. Sorry but I'm not going to step into on-coming traffic, just because the yummy mummies of Edinburgh have more money than sense. If you want more space, buy a smaller more manoeuvrable buggy.

[Maryshoppins]

ComposHat - Sorry, but what has that got to do with my op? I am not advocating people whacking others in the shins? I have be whacked on many occasions by people with walking sticks, pushchairs, bags, feet...it's not nice!

With regards to the larger pushchairs - some people need larger pushchairs if they are transporting more than one child around!!

[Maryshoppins]

toffeelolly - it's nice to know others are considerate :-)

[ComposHat]

Just to point out that pram users can be bloody inconsiderate and self centred and that it doesn't give them the same rights as emergency vehicles: respect is a mutual thing. If a pram user has whacked me in the ankles getting on and off the bus, don't expect me to fall over myself to ease the same person's passage along the pavement.

And why are kids kept in pushchair til close on to puberty these days? aside from children with disabilities, is there any reason other than parental laziness? (realises I've become my own mother)

[DramaLlamaFarmer]

Why should someone move out of your way because you have attained the awesome status of breeding?? Just point your fucking awesome pram away from the person who doesn't give two flying figs that you have bred and get on your way.

I spent every second of Sunday going around a nature reserve with my H. He has slipped two discs in his back and is also suffering sciatic nerve pain. Walking is pure agony for him. As he tried to hobble, bent over his crutch, from the car to the coffee shop, he was walked at by constant waves of people with prams who were apparently incapable of pointing their pram wheels away from the man bent over a crutch in agony. Strange that.

[DramaLlamaFarmer]

Oh and between us we have 6 children. I never assumed that the fact I had bred gave me right to walk at people and push them off a pavement.

[SneezingwakestheJesus]

Mary, in that case you are both as petty and childish as each other. You must find walking very stressful if you take every time you walk towards someone as a battle.

[abbyfromoz]

Haven't read the whole thread just the OP... Just wanted to say i agree with you and YANBU. Same goes with able bodied people hijacking lifts when there are perfectly good escalators I (with a buggy) cannot use and therefore have to wait for at least 2 to go by before I am able to fit in due to lazy people who are often only going one floor!

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

I'm one of those people with a massive tank of a buggy, anything smaller and There isn't enough suspension and I can't bloody push it. I don't think it's possible to push a child and use a walking frame or sticks, is it? So I will stick with my monstrosity.

[Maryshoppins]

Drama- wtf??? You have gone completely off the point? I am not and have never been a precious mother who thinks everyone thinks my children are gods gift and more! Either way, completely irrelevant. This is about basic consideration which in my experience, is rather one sided. Did you not bother to read my post with regards to always being the one to move??? Thought not!

Oh, and with regards to your husband, I would have moved for him. Again not my original point regarding able bodied people!

[DramaLlamaFarmer]

No actually you are right. I had skimmed the OP and not fully read the point you were making so I apologise.

[rentalproperly]

Once, after buying something on a market stall, I turned to leave and my shopping bag bopped a small child in a pushchair. The child was behind me, and like most pedestrians, I wasn't using a rear-view mirror. The mother went slightly bonkers, accusing me of hitting her child. I told her off for letting her child bruise the bananas I'd just bought.

Now, she was insane and entitled. The OP seems perfectly reasonable. YANBU.

[abbyfromoz]

P.s for those asking 'why should we move out the way for a pushchair/buggy' because 1) there is often no where to go (have once been forced onto a busy road due to crowds pushing me thus)
2) they are harder to manoeuvre than if you were to simply take a step to one side
3) because it's considerate (see 1 & 2)
I too have been run down by buggies before and had them clip my heals, but if you refer to 2) (being that they are hard to manoeuvre) and if you receive an apology, i think it's a forgivable misdemeanour.
Also you will notice that if you do have a buggy how unbelievably unaware people are of their own surroundings...for example crossing the pedestrian and then stopping on the curb to stare at your feet when there is a woman with a buggy ON THE ROAD behind you is probably not the best idea.
Oh and no don't worry about blocking the exit i am just standing here for fun because i like standing in random places ridiculously invading your personal space... For no reason... But to stand next to you....when YOU ARE BLOCKING THE EXIT....
Rant over.

[DramaLlamaFarmer]

Clearly your fault for not buying bananas that were slightly under ripe. The child taught you a valuable life lesson.

[Maryshoppins]

Drama- no worries! I can understand why you'd be fuming regarding your husband.

[rentalproperly]

Drama - I will not be made to wait 3 days to eat my bananas. I will not.

[Maryshoppins]

Abby- you hit the nail on the head :-)

[DramaLlamaFarmer]

abby you must bear in mind that the majority of the people you just gave a life lesson to have already managed some considerable years of managing buggies prams toddlers newborns kids and all other connotations of the same and all without helpful advice on how to manage the same

[Maryshoppins]

Rental - that's hilarious :-)

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

Bananas are best when they're all bruised, is that under or over ripe?

[abbyfromoz]

Hence why i said 'if you have used a buggy'...

[DramaLlamaFarmer]

Well clearly you buy your bananas at asda.... chav

[toffeelolly]

Is this thread about banana"s now

[PlumSykes]

I know what you mean. I am thankfully past the pushchair stage, but it always struck me as far easier for a single pedestrian to move aside than for a person pushing a vehicle. And it's not exactly a massive inconvenience, is it?