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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that adults don't need 'to wait for the green man'?

101 replies

MrsWooster · 22/03/2015 09:48

why, on a reasonably quiet road, would a grown person press the button on a pelican crossing and wait while NO TRAFFIC GOES BY until the green man flashes? what happeed to common sense, judging the traffic and being a fucking adult?!
usual caveats apply of SN or if you've got kids and are trying to train them not to spring into the road like gazelles.

OP posts:

UnsolvedMystery · 22/03/2015 23:17

Why do you care?
If there's no traffic around, then no-one is inconvenienced.
If there is traffic around, then the pedestrian has every right to get it to stop so they can cross.

julker · 22/03/2015 23:23

Same as pp - I wait if there are any children

I also wait most of the time anyway as I am registered disabled and struggle with walking so couldn't hurry up if a car comes etc, also possibility I could fall which would be more dangerous if crossing when I shouldnt (usually other people crossing at same time, car stopped would see you drop etc)

MarvellousMarbles · 22/03/2015 23:27

I always wait for the green man. But I'm visually impaired. Other people don't necessarily know this, and I occasionally get funny looks for doing it on an empty road. YANBU not to wait for the green man, but YABU if you make someone else who is doing it feel bad about doing so. Even if you can't see a reason why they're doing it, there probably is one.

Tizwailor · 22/03/2015 23:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MarvellousMarbles · 22/03/2015 23:29

grown ups don't need help to cross the road safely, was my point. I see that opinions differ but i'm right!

grown ups like me with only 2% of their vision left, do need help to cross the road! You're not right.

kissmethere · 23/03/2015 00:25

Yabu however depends on the road. Where Iive the roads are so dangerous. Too many fatalities to mention. I'm amazed how many parents I see on the school run dragging their kids into the road to cut corners and save a few seconds. Recently a woman was hit by a lorry and killed and just the next day lots of people dicing with death on the same spot.

VenusRising · 23/03/2015 00:40

I think your are being very unreasonable to call what is obviously the green lady a green man.

How many opportunities to promote equality are lost by calling things a man instead of a woman?

Women are in positions of power too and they wear trousers!

And yes, you should wait, unless you are 100% sure there is no traffic, and no kids about to follow you.

ComposHatComesBack · 23/03/2015 05:00

Like most adults who don't have a disability I am able to exercise judgement over when it is safe to cross a bloody road. Nor is it my responsibility to teach any passing children to wait for the green light to come on. It is their parents' job to get them across the road safely, not my job to give them life lessons.

When I walk to work at 8am on a Sunday morning, the roads are nearly always empty of traffic. Standing there waiting for a light to turn red to stop a non-existent car seems like a pointless waste of time.

OwlCapone · 23/03/2015 05:51

thereby holding up me

Oh, right. This is just because you think you are more important than a pedestrian.

MarrogfromMars · 23/03/2015 06:24

Like 99% of adults in London I will cross if there are no cars coming rather than stand staring at a red man (and most crossings I use are automatic, no button-pressing needed). The idea that there are places in the world where this is illegal seems so ridiculously disproportionate and infantilising it makes me feel twitchy!

ProudAS · 23/03/2015 06:30

When I was a child DM simply said that grown ups knew what they were doing but I was to wait for the green man until I was grown up. Problem solved!

contortionist · 23/03/2015 06:32

YABU. I always press the button on pedestrian crossings. If the road is really very quiet, they usually change to green straight away in any case.

I also do it to register my presence, just in case someone is collecting statistics on how often crossings are used. Our roads are car-dominated enough already, and I wouldn't want faulty statistics to give an excuse to marginalise pedestrians even further.

claraschu · 23/03/2015 06:36

I always use my own judgement, and also taught my kids to do that. Waiting for green is not enough if you have a dangerous driver on the road.

The only place in the world where people wait for green is in Germany. Mindless respect for authority and not using personal judgement didn't work out too well for the Germans. I find it quite freaky that they are still like this.

MythicalKings · 23/03/2015 06:36

YANBU. One I use can take up to 3 minutes to run to green. That's a long time in the pouring rain. Plus there's an island in the middle so you have to press again. That's even longer in the pouring rain.

Also there are traffic lights further up the road so often the road is completely clear. No point in pressing and waiting under those circumstances.

MythicalKings · 23/03/2015 06:37

*not run to green - turn to green.

GunShotResidue · 23/03/2015 07:24

"The only place in the world where people wait for green is in Germany. Mindless respect for authority and not using personal judgement didn't work out too well for the Germans. I find it quite freaky that they are still like this."

You can also be fined for crossing against a red light in some states in the US, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and I'm sure many others.
German road laws are quite different to ours, you have to give way to intersections on your right unless you're on a priority road etc. But in some ways they are more relaxed, such as sections of the autobahn with no speed limit. And ime most lights are in busy places like the centre of town. Less busy urban areas don't tend to have lights so you cross when we think it's safe.

I don't think waiting for the green light makes them more likely to partake in genocide, if that's what you're implying...

Pseudonym99 · 23/03/2015 07:33

Cross when it is safe to cross. All the green man indicates is that a red light is being exhibited to road traffic. It doesn't mean it is safe to cross, and it is dangerous to teach kids that everybody else is obeying the rules. It is not against any rules to cross when the red man is showing, and it a pedestrian pedestrian's legal right in this country to cross where and when they want. So teach your kids to cross when it is safe.

Dawndonnaagain · 23/03/2015 08:20

grown ups don't need help to cross the road safely, was my point. I see that opinions differ but i'm right!
No you're not. Try reading your own thread, there are many people on here who mentioned disabilities, including me.

londonrach · 23/03/2015 08:32

Cross when its safe with a red man but often if a road is hidden its easier to wait. I know which roads are safe and not in this area and make adult judgement in new area. If children are near me it makes no difference as its up to the parents to teach them. When growing up i was simply told adults know when to cross so dont follow them, just wait for the green man. I never questioned that and just waited. If i have my dneice and dnephew with me we wait for the green man as im responsible for them and teaching them when its safe. Same with any child im responsible for.

SeaUnicorns · 23/03/2015 08:33

Er Cars can hit adults too you know!

I once was waiting at a crossing the building I wanted to get to was literally the other side of the road. It was cold and I was running late I'd grown up with my dad going on about how annoying adults waiting at crossings were, So I looked both ways, listened nothing coming, in fact it was a t junction where one side is filtered off, the side I was crossing was on red but the green man still wasn't showing. I got half way across and the light changed for the cars. And the car couldn't have been going any more than 20, but up on to the bonnet I went, and spent the whole evening not at the meeting I was meant to be at, but laying in hospital my whole body feeling like it had been smashed in to a brick wall. Or a Tarmac road, which er it had.

Thankfully no serious injuries, was sent home that evening, but honestly never ever again. No matter how quite the road is!

londonrach · 23/03/2015 08:36

By the way i saw a mum drive through a red light last week when the green man was ok for us to cross. An elderly man and myself did not move as the speed she was going we knew she wouldnt stop (he said wait to me, i replied i dont think shes going to stop) so sometimes the green man isnt safe. She stopped (heavy braking) middle of the 4 way junction checked she not hit us then continued. Saw a toddler in the back looking out of the window! Please slow down!

LikeTheShoes · 23/03/2015 09:01

because that is what they are for.

duh.

windchime · 23/03/2015 09:23

As a driver, I would rather wait at a red light at an empty crossing than try to judge whether a pedestrian is going to leap out onto a zebra crossing. Some of them treat it like it is a magic fucking carpet. Even at 20mph I need time to stop, you zombies

Scholes34 · 23/03/2015 09:58

windchime - when you're driving and you see a zebra crossing, you should scan the footpaths to see if anyone is likely to be about to cross and start to slow in anticipation. Their walking speed gives you enough time to stop. What is really dangerous is a runner appearing from a side street and launching themselves straight onto a zebra crossing.

capsium · 23/03/2015 10:05

I often wait. The pedestrian crossing are usually near crossroads with 'blind' corners so you cannot easily see the traffic coming. Sorry, but it does not harm anyone to wait and I feel quite chilled waiting.

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