To have not waited for the green man for the little boy (and Grandma) before crossing the road

[TwitterQueen1]

Walked into town earlier, waiting on a traffic island to cross the road. Single lane, no cars in sight so I start to cross the road. Grandma says "We're waiting for the little boy to cross the road." gesturing at the pedestrian crossing lights and clearly telling me not to cross but to wait with them. She said it twice - I only realised she was talking to me when she said it more loudly and forcefully. I turned round and said "Jolly good. You wait there then." and walked on.

I don't know how old the boy was - I wasn't paying them any attention. I wasn't close to them - at least 10ft away. There was a Grandma, a mother, a boy, a buggy and I think a Grandad too.

If it was school chucking out time and there was a crowd of children all waiting to cross a road I would have waited. But I'm 58, the boy wouldn't have even seen me. I don't need anyone's permission to cross the road.. WABU?

ppeatfruit Wrong again; you’re starting a pattern here.

Your latest post appears to imply there’s no point trying to teach a toddler anything, so with such ignorance displayed that tells me the good old classic that you can’t argue with stupid.

And* I once got a proper dressing down from a lollipop man for crossing the road at the same time as a group of school kids.

His services were not to be used by adults unless accompanied by a child, apparently.

It’s a minefield.*

I can go one better - lollipop lady at DD's school wouldn't cross DS & I because he wasn't one of the school children... he was 3 FFS!

Our local lollipop man helps everyone cross the riad, his patch is near a very popular dogbwalk/park and enjoy route to the station. He sees the dog walkers, the commuters, Mums with kids and mums coming back without kids over the road. We all Queue up to wait for him!

This is such a great thread. @LottieGarbanzo you will be pleased to know I am the rare adult who does glance around for children wanting to press buttons.

@DiegoMadonna You’re obviously trying to be nice to pedestrians and I wish the drivers at the junction by my house were are thoughtful but waving people on without paying attention to your surroundings is INCREDIBLY dangerous. The waving on is a breach of the Highway Code, I believe. Please think again and don’t do this. Imagine how you’d feel if a small child stepped out into the path of traffic because you cheerily waved them on.

We once crossed at a red man in Copenhagen. The looks on fellow pedestrians faces when we did it was one of absolute shock and horror. Staring at us, mouths agape. The road was totally empty.
Seems they just follow the rules and have never questioned it.

No one is saying you can’t teach toddlers anything, @WhatToDo - otherwise who would be bothering to teach them road safety?

Toddlers don’t have the ability to have a thought, consider if they should voice it, and then choose the correct volume to do so. They just think aloud. A toddler by themselves will shout ‘I’m jumping’ if they’re doing it in an empty room, just as they would if you’re watching them. They can’t moderate their volume - whether you want them to be quiet in a library, or to speak up over background noise.

Exactly Bustopher

Some people are just blinkered and rude (which I was not).