would you walk behind a car with its reversing lights on?

[Slartybartfast]

well?
i was trying to reverse out of a car park, as you do, i ended up letting the car behind me reverse first, kept looking, then again start to reverse, only for people to be walking directly behind the car! of course i stopped but they walked and the woman looked back at me, while walking, for ages, glaring.!
and no i dont have eyes in the back of my head, and yes i do have reverse lights!

if you take the risk of walking behind a car with its reverse lights on, you are taking a risk imo, and you dont turn and glare angrily at the reversing driver.

My neighbour has done this a few times to dp while he's been parallel parking. He'd seen her obviously but no idea what she was thinking as she kind of had to go out of her way to do it
Sorry to be picky but my driving instructor taught me to reverse into the space and then just drive out.

I've always taught my children not to walk behind a reversing vehicle. Yes, the driver should be looking but it's better to be safe than sorry! People do it all the time now though. Someone walked into the space I was reversing into the other day!

I wouldn’t but as a driver it is your responsibility to look around you and stop for hazards. If you had have hit her it would have been your fault in law not hers unless she came running past and there was no way you could have reasonably stopped. Pedestrians have right of way in car parks.

yup, that is annoying, you reverse into a space in supermarket car park, feeling clever, only to find when you get back to your car, you have to squeeze next to cars to get to your boot, and cannot load directly from the trolley.

As a pedestrian I always stop, most of the time a driver will see you waiting, do the polite thing and wave you past so you don’t have to wait for them to finish.

As a driver reversing out of a parking bay in a busy car park there is so many blind spots, especially if you have a car parked at either side.

I do suspect this is a supermarket car park. Mostly are poorly designed and cram far too many spaces in.

Also most people don’t reverse park in supermarkets as it can prevent you actually getting to your boot to put the shopping in!

It's much safer to reverse in to a space rather than out of it as it's less likely for proper people to be walking through spaces.

I do agree though that when walking behind or past parked cars in a car park you should pay attention to reverse lights (I can't believe anyone genuinely doesn't know/hasn't spotted that when a car moves backwards white lights come on! Even my children know this and they don't drive 🤔) but ultimately it's the drivers responsibility to be checking and double checking however as op said, even when looking over one shoulder someone could walk from the other side.

on this occasion though it wasnt a supermarket car park, but a beauty spot car park, it was busy and i had already waited for families with buggies and i did wait for the glaring person but felt her glaring at me was unreasonable.

This is one thing that winds me up.

I know the cars responsibility to give pedestrians right of way but seriously why do it when your car 1/2 way out of a space!! Maybe in the local car parks pedestrians could stick to the doorways designed for them to walk on!!

I try to reverse into a space now - can be a pain trying to put shopping in but for some reason pedestrians actually stop when you have reversed in.

I had a woman with two small children walk across the space I was parallel parking into. After I'd stared my manoeuvre. They were tagging along behind her and small enough to be invisible through my back windscreen (fortunately I spotted them in my mirrors).

She almost got taken out by a motorcyclist - she just ambled out into the road once she'd crossed my space assuming that there was nothing coming. Despite the fact that the huge van behind me was blocking her view. She didn't stop to check the traffic - just stepped out as if she had right of way.

Then she swore at both me and the motorcyclist for being 'fucking blind' - despite the fact that we'd both managed to avoid hitting her due to our observational skills.

Pedestrians always have right of way:

Rule 202 of the Highway Code:

*Look carefully before you start reversing. You should

*use all your mirrors
*check the ‘blind spot’ behind you (the part of the road you cannot see easily in the mirrors)
check there are no pedestrians (particularly children), cyclists, other road users or obstructions in the road behind you.

It's the duty of the car driver to check that there are no pedestrians, because you are moving backwards into a space that is otherwise unoccupied by a vehicle. Pedestrians will have looked for vehicles driving up or down the road.

I was once walking through a car park and a lady reversed out and bumped me. Her reverse lights were not on as I began to pass her car. I think sometimes drivers get in their car, sort themselves out or faff around, and because there was no one walking by at that time, they think still there is no one walking past when they are ready to move and they just back out. Poor thing was so distraught, I was consoling her.
While it is a driver's responsibility to be sure their way is clear, some pedestrians seem to be very reckless with their lives.

I know what you mean OP. If I see a reversing car I wait, I don’t run across the back of it. We had people let their kids run across the back of reversing cars in the school car park. You can’t see a child if they are directly behind your car. After seeing a near miss I stopped using it and park on the street. Not worth the risk.

You just have to edge out slowly OP and have eyes in the back of your head. I don’t see what you did wrong. You stopped when you saw the woman. Some people seem to spend their day looking for a fight.

I wouldn't, but always expect others too. Pet hate is parents allowing their small children to walk ahead and do the same. It's so dangerous as small children frequently cannot be seen by drivers reversing. I've actually grabbed a child in Tesco car park before to stop them coming to harm, their parent was completely unconcerned.

cars have reversing lights to warn others that the car is reversing

Rubbish! There are there to illuminate the rear of the vehicle to aid the driver. The onus is always on the driver to look out for other road users, be they pedestrians, cyclists or other cars regardless of whatever manoeuvrer they are doing.

I started a thread about this a while back, except that I have a van, and can't see through metal when reversing!
I don't know why (entitled) heedless pedestrians just wander on behind the van when I'm reversing, hazard lights on and everything.
It's in the Highway Code: Never cross behind a vehicle which is reversing, showing white reversing lights or sounding a warning.
Perhaps it is slightly different in a car because you can see behind you, but it sounds like the equivalent of people deliberately stepping in front of you when you're walking along....kinda rude.

I don't understand why people always rock up on these threads telling others to reverse into spaces - it's a supermarket car park! People are likely to be loading their boot with shopping, which is really difficult to do in most cars if they're reversed into a space (and actually impossible to do in my car as the boot opens from the side like a normal door!).

If you get stuck next to a large van then sometimes you can't see pedestrians coming, you really have no choice but to edge out blind. Having said that, it is still the drivers responsibility. The pedestrian would not be able to see the car in those circumstances either.

Pinkprincess1978; less likely for proper people to be walking through spaces.
What's a "proper" person.

My car has sensors that beep if anything (person or car or lamppost!) comes with 6 inches of the car if I am reversing. They are very useful. DH fitted them.

lougle I see your point about the Highway code , however may pedestrians just do not use common sense nor do they make wise choices. In this example, what concerns me is how it happens so frequently and how people put their children at risk and set a bad example to them.

I always check before I reverse out of a parking space, but I've noticed that recently a lot of people will still insist on walking behind your car even though your reversing lights are on and you are already moving. Entitled twats. It is infuriating, so I am with you, OP.

People can be stupid. Had this recently on a busy retail centre car park. Had already started reversing , small child was running ahead of mother. Obviously can’t see a small child standing behind car. Thankfully I don’t reverse fast and I saw women and subsequently small child in time. Didn’t stop her glaring at me and spewing abuse at me though.

Imo pedestrians who or not mindful of what cars are doing when venturing onto busy car parks are quite thick. Look what’s happening around you and teach your kids to do the same.

I was going to say no, of course not, that would be stupid.

But carparks are different. There often is nowhere safe for pedestrians to walk and in supermarkets there are cars reversing everywhere, so they can't help but go behind a moving car at some point.

I always give way to pedestrians in a carpark.

What really annoys me is people who walk extremely close to the parked cars and then suddenly appear as if from nowhere behind my car.

In our local supermarket the car park is like this:

pavement

one way lane of the car park

row of cars

path

row of cars

road

Some idiots pedestrians choose not the use the path which is between both rows of cars and instead wander around willy nilly behind the cars and then scream at you if you don't see them in the dark clothes in the dark.

Pedestrians have right of way in car parks, and not all of us can see reversing lights easily. I have a lot of trouble seeing direction indicators in daylight - when drivers even bother to use them for the benefit of pedestrians crossing side roads. Assuming I have seen the reversing lights - depends whether the car is stationary.