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AIBU?

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Original poster

Pedestrians

288 replies

MardyBra · 03/10/2013 23:29

Please do not "nip in front" of my car as I am pulling out of a junction.

Oh, and a quick cheeky cross of the road just as the lights are changing and I've been waiting for ages isn't great either.

I don't want to kill you.

I know I'll be flamed as an imperialist gas-guzzling car driver even though my business couldn't function with a car but some of you have been getting on my tits this week.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 04/10/2013 14:20

nomorecrumbs - that sort of attitude is why the roads are so dangerous.

noone has priority over another road user

Quangle · 04/10/2013 14:20

Stupid old men. How dare they Angry

BTW the idea that the road is for drivers is part of the problem. Roads cut across pedestrian space - that doesn't mean drivers automatically get right of way when turning from one road onto another.

mewmeow · 04/10/2013 14:21

Nomorecrumbs- driver calling a (70 year old) pedestrian lazy, that's rich..

And fyi pedestrians have right of way on a zebra crossing, which is on the road.

nomorecrumbs · 04/10/2013 14:26

He was lazy. He should have gone around the back of my car instead of cutting across a turning, indicating car pulling out of a junction.

Some pedestrians, not all, have no basic road safety sense.

Pootles2010 · 04/10/2013 14:28

I think mew's point was that a driver is inherently more lazy than a driver, by merit of using their own two feet.

nomorecrumbs · 04/10/2013 14:30

That doesn't mean though that drivers should give way to pedestrians automatically by virtue of them being "less lazy" when it's not a marked crossing.

limitedperiodonly · 04/10/2013 14:37

It's nothing to do with having to thank people for obeying the law, but more that life is a lot more pleasant if you acknowledge your fellow human beings.

I hardly drive at all now but I used to regularly drive through Grosvenor Square in London. It was weird. If the crossings were empty, fine. But if one person crossed it was like some invisible film director had shouted: 'Action!' People seemed to come from nowhere.

I wouldn't have dreamed of barging through, but it was nice when someone who ran up to the crossing when, if they'd continued walking it would have cleared, and I could have gone, waved at me and mouthed: 'Thanks.'

Like I said, I'm more often the person walking over the crossing than driving over it these days. It doesn't hurt me to flip my hand vaguely in the direction of the driver.

limitedperiodonly · 04/10/2013 14:42

Actually, I avoid running up to crossings if some poor sod has been patiently waiting for a crocodile of people to cross. I just let him or her go and cross in front of the next person, making sure they've seen me, of course.

Some people don't pay attention whether they're walking or driving and I'd rather not get run over even when it is my right of way.

ivykaty44 · 04/10/2013 14:42

I could go to any town in the country and find cars parked on the pavement sometimes blocking the way for pedestrians and worse buggies or wheel chairs.

I walk to work and there is a chap in a wheel chair that has to use the road to get his son to school as there are cars parked in his way so he can't use the pavement. This would be for quarter of a mile stretch, oh and sometimes he gets tooted at by other drivers in their cars - when it doesn't take half a brain to work out why he is wheeling along the road

it is inconsiderate and selfish

ivykaty44 · 04/10/2013 14:45

life is a lot more pleasant if you acknowledge your fellow human beings

VW bettle drivers used to do this as they waved to each other, so do camper vans and motorhomes - they wave to each other, cyclists say good morning or good afternoon or nod a head if peddling up hill and out of breath.

Quangle · 04/10/2013 14:47

I drive through those crossings on Grosvenor Square too limited. They are weird. I think the Embassy send out spooks to practise going incognito as "normal people crossing a road" Grin

limitedperiodonly · 04/10/2013 14:51

There's a girl of about 12 who hares past the front of my house on the pavement on her scooter (scoot-along not Vespa) at about 8.50am every morning on her way to school.

I could set my clock by her, which is ironic, seeing as she's obviously a rubbish time-keeper herself.

She's a fucking menace and I guess she's the sort of idiot with a death wish who crosses in front of cars, behind reversing dustcarts, over level crossings when the barriers have gone down...

spatchcock · 04/10/2013 14:51

"When I drive I dont give a monkey's fart if people acknowledge that I've stopped at a zebra crossing. It's the law and my duty to do so. So I do. I'm not doing anyone a favour. I'm obeying a law. I dont care if I'm thanked."

This. Cannot imagine getting cross about someone not thanking me for obeying the road code! Imagine the accidents in a world where we were all smiling and waving at each other from the driver's seat. Thanks for giving way as I am coming towards you and turning right as specified in section 5.6a of the Highway Code! Thanks for stopping at that junction!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 04/10/2013 14:56

Re: drivers driving on the pavement - a driver once tried to do this in front of me, whilst I was walking the children home from school. He was a bit shocked when I didn't move out of his way, but instead slapped my hands down on his bonnet and glared at him until he reversed back onto the road!

Wallison - there were plenty of times I'd have handed one of my dses over to someone without them having to stop at a pedestrian crossing for me! Grin

But seriously, I don't see it as me, or any other driver, deserving thanks for obeying the law! more that it is nice to thank people! and spread a bit of positivity in the world. But I wouldn't dream of getting arsey if someone doesn't thank me for stopping at a zebra crossing. I do get a bit arsey if I hold a door open for someone, or stand back to let them through, and get completely ignored. I do the passive-aggressive thing of saying "You're welcome" to their retreating backs.

limitedperiodonly · 04/10/2013 14:59

ivykaty DH comes from proper countryside in Somerset.

Whenever we visit MIL, as a suburbanite transplant to London, it took me quite a while to get used to people saying a cheery hello when they pass me on walks. It still unsettles me Grin

quangle I think you're right. It sounds exactly like something the CIA would do on their way to unleash a phial of anthrax in the subways under Park Lane.

Gerbilectomy · 04/10/2013 15:01

the road is for drivers, not pedestrians

Haha! Yeah, bloody pedestrians, eh? Getting themselves run over and killed, left right and centre. Even on the pavements! Idiots!

yoshipoppet · 04/10/2013 15:04

I do usually wave a thank you to anyone who stops for me at a zebra crossing. It takes no time, costs no money and might just cheer someone up - what's not to like about that?
But then I live in Devon and people are very friendly here, even to strangers.

Gerbilectomy · 04/10/2013 15:05

There is crisis of poor driver education in this country. There is a crisis of arrogance, entitlement, impatience, carelessness and sheer bad manners.

Threads like this depress the fuck out of me.

Driving a car is a responsibility - not a right. Your licence can (and should) be taken away from you if you drive badly and you can boo-hoo all you want about the mean pedestrians and cyclists getting in your way but it doesn't change the fact that the onus is on drivers to behave responsibly because cars are so bloody dangerous - which is why they are taxed and you are licensed.

Too many people treat driving too casually.

nomorecrumbs · 04/10/2013 15:09

But it is, Gerbilectomy. That's why pedestrians have pavements and designated places where they have priority to cross.

There's also far too much sanctimony on the part of some pedestrians on this thread. Pedestrians must also take responsibility and be aware that they can't just cross the road willy-nilly without taking the proper safety precautions first.

ivykaty44 · 04/10/2013 15:11

proper countryside in Somerset Grin I love it - would that be exmoor, is that proper countryside?

Gerbilectomy · 04/10/2013 15:15

That's why pedestrians have pavements and designated places where they have priority to cross.

And where there are no pavements? No crossings?

The roads are for ALL road users, but drivers have unique responsibilities to keep themselves and other road users safe.

If you're driving around expecting pedestrians to prevent you from killing them, then you have entirely the wrong attitude. The onus is on YOU. you are the one with the lethal weapon under your control.

Pedestrians and cyclists can be a bit defensive, yes, because we're sick and tired of being blamed for being killed and injured in our thousands by pig ignorant fucking car drivers.

comingalongnicely · 04/10/2013 15:19

lol @ Gerbil

Absolutely no responsibility on the part of the pedestrians then?

Easier to blame others eh? Cross at the proper places, don't be an arse & you may live longer - small consolation being in the right when you're under the wheels of a bus....

limitedperiodonly · 04/10/2013 15:37

proper countryside in Somerset grin I love it - would that be exmoor, is that proper countryside?

ivy To me, who grew up near Epping Forest, it is. It's all relative, isn't it?

I imagine there are more wild parts of Britain than Exmoor but I didn't realise this was a competition. I thought it was about being pleasant to people, which was what I was trying to do.

KatieScarlett2833 · 04/10/2013 15:54

To the parents of the small children that you have just collected from the school at the top of my street.
Standing gassing to each other in the road while your children run around will get you all killed. You were lucky today that I didn't run you over. There is a generous pavement. Stand on that instead and supervise your kids.
I'm still shaking.

Meglet · 04/10/2013 16:09

Other drivers - don't waste your time 'flashing' me to turn into a junction first if it's your right of way. I'll decide when I turn thanks. And yes, I'll watch you getting pissed off with me and I won't care. Same goes for when I'm walking, don't flash me across.

Runners - stay off the roads. I've discovered these wonderful new inventions that I run on called paths and don't involve a tonne of steel tearing past at 30mph. You won't be very healthy if you're hit by a crap driver.

Cyclists - I'm in a minority of 1 as I really don't mind you on the pavement if you cycle sensibly. Just please use your bell, don't go fast and don't have your headphones in.

Pedestrians - It would never occur to me to expect you to 'thank' me at a pedestrian crossing.