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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be very wary at zebra crossings because of very bad drivers

93 replies

lazyglazy · 01/10/2015 22:21

I really am sick and tired of drivers (sorry to say but nearly always women) who refuse to stop at zebra crossings. It's like I'm invisible. So bloody ignorant, not to mention dangerous. Has anyone else come across this?

OP posts:

TheCatsMother99 · 01/10/2015 22:24

I had a very, very near miss on a zebra crossing a few years ago. Was half way across when some lunatic sped past. I had to jump back to avoid being hit & actually still can't believe I wasn't. I bet whoever it was driving didn't even see me on the crossing until he/ she was right there.

Oysterbabe · 01/10/2015 22:35

FIL is the worst for almost killing people on zebra crossings and he never indicates. I think he feels obliged due to being an Audi driver.

skinoncustard · 01/10/2015 22:36

Very few drivers or pedestrians know how to use zebra crossings nowadays.
When I was at school ( many many moons ago ) we were taught - zebra crossing , stop, put one foot on the road( gutter) to show drivers you wished to cross, wait for traffic to stop, walk smartly across.
Nowadays you take your life in your hands when you use a zebra crossing.
I would not encourage children to use them nowadays, far to dangerous !

penguinsarecool · 01/10/2015 22:36

I never cross the zebra crossings or traffic light crossings until traffic has come to a stop on both lanes.

Waitingimpatient · 01/10/2015 22:37

Dh was nearly killed on a zebra crossing when he was about 12. MIL still talks about how traumatic it was as the crossing was outside their house , apparently a woman just didn't stop and hit him very very hard

JapaneseSlipper · 01/10/2015 23:12

What I don't get about them is why people hurtle towards them, meaning I (as a pedestrian) have to hesitate because I don't know if they are going to stop, then they slow down right at the last second and stop for me to cross. Instead of just slowing down in plenty of time, indicating that they have seen me and intend on letting me cross safely, which means I start crossing earlier and the car can sail through behind me without having to stop.

WhispersOfWickedness · 01/10/2015 23:17

YANBU, I had someone drive into the back of me when I was stopped at a zebra crossing once :( There were already people in the middle of the crossing, so if I hadn't been there to stop, she could well have driven into them

icouldjusteatacroissant · 01/10/2015 23:25

Never ever step out onto the crossing until you have made eye contact with the drivers. There was a 6 year old and his mum hit on a crossing in my town a while back. The driver was a young woman. And I agree that it is usually women. I drive for a living, and women are the most ignorant and rude drivers, in my town anyway.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 01/10/2015 23:26

I once managed to bang on the drivers window of a 4wd that had driven across a zebra crossing I was on. I was 8 months pregnant so fairly visible.
She looked confused as she looked at me. I think she thought I was someone she knew and that was the cause of the banging.

We used to live in a village that was used as a rat run. A car missed me and the DC by inches. At the school gate I realised she was picking up too and I was so cross I gave her a bollocking. It was verrry satisfying :)

gandalf456 · 01/10/2015 23:26

Someone put her hand up once to indicate that she was going to carry on and whizzed past with an arrogant look on her face

chicaguapa · 01/10/2015 23:27

Yanbu. I tell DC to never step out on a zebra crossing until the traffic has stopped. DC know to never assume a driver is actually looking at the road and to assume that he is probably texting on his mobile.

ZenNudist · 01/10/2015 23:29

Yep I've been on one when someone has driven past me. Clearly not looking. Scary.

SaucyJack · 01/10/2015 23:35

I know what you mean Japanese.

One can only assume they do it as a power-trip because they are pathetic arseholes with disappointing sex lives.

Yes- I do mean you.

AsTimeGoesBy · 01/10/2015 23:36

There are none round here whatsoever, or in any of the surrounding towns that I've come across, I wonder if they are being phased out in favour of traffic light crossings. I've never been able to practice much with the DCs because literally the only one is in a supermarket car park where everyone is going really slowly anyway

Lweji · 01/10/2015 23:37

I teach DS to wait until the cars have stopped. I do it myself and will stop half way through if necessary to make sure I can cross safely. It saved me once from being run over by a bus, as the one in the opposite direction stopped right after the crossing.

On the other hand, I also see people starting to cross immediately even though the cars may be too close to stop safely.

NetballHoop · 01/10/2015 23:37

YANBU.
Always assume that drivers are idiots. You'll be wrong most of the time, but right when it matters.

feetheart · 01/10/2015 23:53

DS and his class were involved in a very near miss on the crossing outside school last year. Some knobhead on a motorbike decided to drive through the crossing whilst 60 x 8 year olds were crossing. DS was one of the closest and said he felt the air rush past. He was scared by it but his poor teacher was in floods of tears :(
It was reported to the police and said knobhead was caught, mainly because one of the kids knew him (no helmet on so easily recognisable - idiot on so so many levels)

fulldutypaid · 01/10/2015 23:57

I have to say that I live in the heart of London and Ive never really come across drivers not stopping at a zebra. I do however wait a bit to see if theyve slowed down enough to actually stop.

Roobix04 · 02/10/2015 00:05

Nearly got run over by a police car once. The car started to slow down but something made me hesitate. Luckily I did cos they carried on and the driver was turning to talk to the passenger. They weren't in a hurry or anything. I saw them a few minutes later up the road chatting outside the station.

WorraLiberty · 02/10/2015 00:05

YANBU

I've recently started working as a lollipop lady and my crossing is a zebra, next to (and far too close to) a busy junction.

You'd think given the fact that motorists are supposed to stop at zebra crossings, you wouldn't need a lollipop lady there...but sadly they definitely do.

I haven't noticed a difference between male and female drivers (and that's the honest truth), but by far the worst culprits for not stopping are cyclists.

It's as though they think they don't need to stop, even if I'm actually in the middle of the crossing, seeing people over. Many of them just sail past, and some actually smile and say "Good morning"!!

Fatmomma99 · 02/10/2015 00:09

One of my BFs was hit on a zebra crossing in London. They were out because it was a year (the anniversary) since her older sister had had a stroke and died. Her partner told me he looked at her crumpled body and all he could think was "Fuck... How do I tell them [her parents] they've lost the other one...". She's fine. And she got 6k for the scar, which she donated.

But the PP who suggested they're being phased out is right - I can't think of many round here any more, except (like they said) in supermarkets. It's all lights (and grrr... stop/start)

When I was taught to drive, I was taught to expect that every other road user was an idiot. So if they were signalling, to expect them NOT to turn, etc. It has worked well, and I continue to use it!

fulldutypaid · 02/10/2015 00:14

I dont get it? obviously you pay attention before crossing a road whether its a zebra or not. I have to say that there are arseholes no matter what restrictions are in place, but on the whole in the busy place I live a zebra is still adhered to.

WorraLiberty · 02/10/2015 00:18

The op isn't saying she doesn't pay attention.

She's saying that the drivers don't, and they ignore the fact she's stood at a zebra waiting to cross.

fulldutypaid · 02/10/2015 00:20

A lollipop lady and a zebra is probably conflicting and confusing and they probably laugh and sail past due to a double meaning? I'd do the same? Its sort of saying I dont trust you to stop? negative.

fulldutypaid · 02/10/2015 00:22

There are arseholes everywhere but for me more stop than dont. Its fine.

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