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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Driver not using signal, blaming pedestrian. Who's right?

42 replies

MorrisZapp · 06/02/2015 13:22

I get really pissed off with drivers failing to signal when turning, as a pedestrian how else am I supposed to know they're planning to turn?

I was walking along a wee street the other day, let's call it Acacia Avenue. I came to a junction. As no cars were signalling to turn, it looked clear for me to cross so I did. As I stepped out, a car turned the corner, with no signal on, and the driver clearly thought I was being careless as she mouthed something unfriendly at me.

Looking back, I was wondering if she was in the right because that junction doesn't lead anywhere (it's a small maze of very narrow streets tucked in behind the city centre) and that there are possibly 'no entry' signs meaning that the turn she took was the only way she could legally go. So she felt no need to signal.

Surely even if legally you can only go in one direction, if that means making a turn into another street and there are pedestrians on the pavement, you should signal?

OP posts:

happywanderingwithdog · 06/02/2015 14:16

Car drivers are lazy, selfish, smug, all warm and dry in their little metal box. Most of them don't give a monkey's about the safety of pedestrians trying to cross, we are just an inconvenience to them. I walk the dog twice a day, unfortunately clashing with morning and evening rush hour. They don't indicate, they mount the curb if they think they can get past the car in front a few seconds quicker for a left turn. They block the crossings. Idiots one and all.

I do drive as well, but my god I try to be aware of the pedestrians around me! And yes, you ALWAYS indicate, even if the only other person around is a pedestrian. Because we're not telepathic (as I keep yelling at them).

RobotHamster · 06/02/2015 14:19

Some Car drivers are lazy, selfish, smug, all warm and dry in their little metal box.

There. Fixed it for you.

muminhants · 06/02/2015 14:23

Drivers could do with a refresher on the laws around turning into side roads when a pedestrian is crossing them.

In my view, not indicating (or indicating wrongly) is driving without due care and attention. If you can't rely on indicators we might as well not have them. And indicating does not mean you have a right to proceed, it merely tells other road users (which clearly includes pedestrians) what you are intending. It does not give you priority.

Where I am not clear is where the drivers are signal-controlled but the pedestrian is not. So I cross a side-road that doesn't have a red/green man, but the driver has a green light to turn. I generally have to leap out of the way even if I was already half-way across when the lights changed.

And roundabouts. I cross a side road off a roundabout. A car enters the roundabout on another exit and then wants the road I am crossing. They always seem to think that I can just disappear.

RobotHamster · 06/02/2015 14:25

roundabouts are tricky, you're concentrating on clearing the roundabout and yes of course i look for pedestrians but you really should wait until it's clear before you cross!

muminhants · 06/02/2015 14:26

It is clear when I start to cross - that's my point. I start to cross before the car has entered the roundabout.

Scholes34 · 06/02/2015 16:15

You were in the right. The driver should have given way to you. However, no matter how much in the right you might be, you can't argue with a car that's about to mow you down.

TheFecklessFairy · 06/02/2015 16:27

Oh, I long to be back in Canada (Alberta) where cars have to give way to pedestrians at all times.

LurkingHusband · 06/02/2015 16:31

Car drivers had better get used to pedestrians all over the place - shared space seems to be the new thing ...

Driver not using signal, blaming pedestrian. Who's right?

lljkk · 06/02/2015 16:36

" I'm pretty sure that a motorist turning into a side road has to give way to any pedestrians already crossing that road"

That's what I thought, too.

NorahBone · 06/02/2015 18:42

This drives me mad as a pedestrian, op, my particular bugbear being the drivers who indicate after they've turned the corner because they've realised you were already crossing and don't want to look like they're in the wrong!

DrCoconut · 06/02/2015 18:54

This came up in my driving lesson today. My instructor says you can fail your driving test for not signalling correctly to pedestrians as well as other drivers as it causes danger.

BMW6 · 06/02/2015 19:06

I always assume the driver may be turning into the road I want to cross, whether indicating or not.

A couple of children have been killed near my home when trying to cross at a busy junction, and the remains of the flower tributes tied to the railing nearby always reminds me to be extra vigilant.

I've seen many many drivers there turn the corner at speed (over 30mph) without having indicated that intention. Wankers.

HappyAgainOneDay · 06/02/2015 19:14

I'm not making excuses but could the front indicator not be working but the back one was?

HarringayBirder · 06/02/2015 21:31

To answer your QUESTION -Minus2 and Robot, I'm looking at you - you, Morris, were in the right and the driver was in the wrong because
(A) you were already crossing when she started to turn
(B) when you turn you should indicate (as the Highway Code says).

Further, the rules of the Highway Code are not merely matters of "courtesy": a court is entitled to take what the Code says when considering if an offence has been committed.

wanderings · 07/02/2015 07:34

I'm not making excuses but could the front indicator not be working but the back one was?

If so, the car is unroadworthy; this could go against the driver.

I once had an unusual situation of nearly being run over: I was crossing a road behind a driver who was waiting to turn out of a side road. This driver suddenly reversed at me; I literally had to jump out of the way. Why did the driver reverse? Because he saw someone in a motorised wheelchair coming along the pavement, about to cross his road, and he decided to make it easier for her by reversing. OK, but he would have failed his driving test big time on lack of observation, and reversing in traffic is very unexpected! I did a lot of shouting at this (minicab) driver, who shouted back, and I wish I'd reported him.

Binkybix · 07/02/2015 07:44

So many drivers fail to indicate I'm surprised when they do

Drivers who block crossings make me seriously angry.

MyAcheybreakyBones · 07/02/2015 09:15

The driver is supposed to indicate but also supposed to be looking for potential hazards when/before turning into the, as in you.

Me and my dd were reversed into by one of my neighbours cars she is at the end of my street at a junction that I couldnt cross as there was road works blocking it so I had to cross behind her car to the other side.

She should have been aware that I passed and then also checked her mirrors before reversing, we wernt hurt but it irks me.

There is also a school near by and I was passing a school bus/coach that was parked about a quarter onto the curb it then decided to drive off just as I was at his rear wheels.
I had to snatch my dd away as the back swung out. bastards

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