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.

OP, I am on your side.

If im in a supermarket, and someone is about to reverse, I usually wait. If they appear to be waiting for me to cross, then I walk quickly past.

I am a learner driver, and was getting ready to drive off yesterday when a woman appeared behind my car and then walked alongside me, IN THE ROAD, even though there is a pavement. Pedestrians do stupid things. Either that, or it was a test cooked up by instructor to test my observations. Luckily, I passed lol.

She wasn't in a supermarket car park.

You would fail your test if you did not wait for pedestrians approaching your car to walk past, before reversing.

I have read this as OP has checked and begun her manoeuvre once she has established its safe to do so. The pedestrian walked behind her car once she had begun to reverse, so I feel they are at fault. Obviously when you are reversing as a driver you keep on checking around you as you move out of the space, but if the car is already reversing, why the hell would you as a pedestrian cross it’s path? If you see a car reversing, you stop and wait, no one is in that much of a rush.

When my kids were little and we walked places I drummed it into them that just because we are on the pavement doesn’t mean we are safe. Cars move off driveways all the time and may not see you coming along the street. They knew white lights on the back of the car mean the car is going to move so they must stop.

The responsibility is on both sides.

I didnt run her over
hopefully your test would not place at a beauty spot

OP did you start reversing when they were already crossing behind, or did they start crossing AFTER your break lights came on? The way your OP is worded sounds like they were already crossing behind which would mean YBU.

I agree with lougle, but there is such a thing as being considerate towards the drivers as well. Olga81 has raised a good point about small children. I wouldn’t be able to see a small child while reversing my car, although the parking sensors would warn me.

I’m not sure you are right Ifailed. I think reversing lights are there to warn other road/car park users as well as to illuminate the rear.

From the Highway Code:
15. Reversing vehicles. Never cross behind a vehicle which is reversing, showing white
reversing lights or sounding a warning.

“If reversing lights are intended to warn other drivers, then they would be mandatory on all vehicles”

I thought they were. I haven’t driven a car without reversing lights for many years. Which vehicles don’t have them?

It’s clear to me on this thread that there seems to be lack of consideration on both sides. All drivers should be looking out for pedestrians (as well as other drivers), but by the same token all pedestrians should be looking out for cars and not assume that the driver can see them.

Only very old cars designed in around the 1940s don't have reversing lights fitted. I'm really surprised people are driving without being aware of the basic functions of their car.

It's irresponsible to not understand the functions of lights on your car and your responsibility to check they're working.

Legally, it's always the driver's fault if they hit a pedestrian, whether they're reversing or moving forwards, pulling off at a green traffic light or someone has wandered towards their car with their eyes shut.

the bad tempered glarey woman was clearly feeling entitled imo.

Er, that may be because she was entitled?

She had right of way. You didn't.

And you feel strongly enough to start a thread about it? Really?

Yes, pedestrians walking behind the car when you're reversing out of a space are exasperating. But um, they have the right to do so. They have right of way. We don't have the right to be so annoyed about it that we bother to start threads on social media sites about it.

i was inching myself, looking all around, they appeared as if from nowhere, it is ok, i stopped, no accidents. not the end of the world, no big deal. the big deal, to me, was her prolonged glaring at me after the event.

The thing is though, if you are walking close to the backs of cars you cannot see the light until you are practically behind it.

Which is exactly why you shouldn't walk close to the back of a row of parked cars

was it you Basil

and yes she was immediately behind my car

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.

---------

The problem is that pedestrians aren't in the road behind you when you start manoevering, but move behind you as you are mid-way through, which is on them.

Sometimes people are having bad days. She just glared at you. This isn't really a discussion about reversing is it, it's about you being annoyed that someone glared at you.

It might just be her resting face. She might have been staring thoughtfully into space and it comes across as glaring?

They appeared from nowhere? Well clearly they did not suddenly materialise from nowhere. So you simply had not seen them. Maybe they had been in your blind spot? But they were not to blame.

I love how you're like "oh I don't care about the driving situation - she looked at me funny".

No one is perfect. Is there anything you could have done in that situation to improve it? Anything at all? You can't stop her from glaring at you or walking across in the way that she did. The only thing you can do is think about your own actions in that situation.

If she was glaring at you then you must have been looking at her to know that. Did you glare back by any chance?

Supermarket carparks are the 13th circle of hell. People completely lose awareness. A woman stepped in front of my moving car yesterday with her small child, clearly wasn't looking in the slightest. She got a very angry beep for that.

she was looking back at me, over her shoulder. werent you Basil

She might have been staring thoughtfully into space

She might have been thinking Ah Bollocks I forgot to buy potatoes

Arf, no it wasn't me, I do sympathise with your irritation, I get really pissed off with pedestrians walking behind me when I'm reversing out. It would be nice if people had common sense, but they don't always and I try and bear in mind that their lack of common sense and consideration, is only ever likely to hurt them, whereas when I'm behind the wheel, my lack of commonsense and consideration would hurt someone else and if it's a child below eye level, could do worse than hurt them.

It's one of the reasons I try my damndest never to drive into a space tbh, I always try and reverse in. Much safer and it saves petrol.

Oh she was looking back at you. Because you initiated the glare.

she was looking back at me, over her shoulder.

The nerve of it! No wonder you posted on here, OP. That’s shocking.

And in a car park you have to walk close to parked cars.

Legally, it's always the driver's fault if they hit a pedestrian, whether they're reversing or moving forwards, pulling off at a green traffic light or someone has wandered towards their car with their eyes shut.

Not true in the UK, no strict liability