Waving pedestrians to cross, cars coming other way

[MartinQBlank]

I feel a little mean-spirited as it seems to be done with good intent, but why do some drivers stop and wave you to cross the road when there is a stream of traffic the other way?

I live on quite a busy road with no pedestrian crossings and this happens very frequently. I'm happy to wait until there is a safe gap in the traffic. I'm also trying to teach my children about road safety and this just confuses them. I tell them to ignore the cars that have stopped and decide for themselves when it's safe. Have seen a couple of near misses caused by this too, with pedestrians not checking the other way properly when someone has stopped for them.

I'm sure they are trying to be helpful (although some do seem to get impatient when we ignore them) but it really isn't. Am I being an ungrateful whinger?

No. You should never wave anyone across the road - you can stop and make contact (so they know you've seen them) but you should never make a decision (whether to cross or not) for someone. They teach this in the driving lessons.

YANBU, waving drivers are twats.

YANBU

they’re trying to be helpful but showing a slightly worrying lack of awareness of what’s going on around them (cars coming the other way)

Glum yes that's exactly it, it's the lack of awareness. Just this morning it happened and there was a long stream of cars coming the other way, should have been obvious that it wasn't safe for us to cross. She sat there until it had all gone past, and it was all weirdly awkward!

The person who waved them on could be held liable in an accident

Surely you wait for both sides to stop and not just cross because someone has waved you across?

YANBU. I remember my mum teaching me to ignore people who waved me across the road. I teach my children the same thing. It's so dangerous.

I hate when people do this! They do t a lot round here. I ignore them but then they give you a funny look.

Just ignore.

It's the same as when you're driving and other drivers flash you to pull out even though the other side of the road isn't clear. And then get impatient when you don't pull out. Idiots.

GreatDuck yes of course, that's what we were doing. Standing on the pavement trying to ignore the woman blocking her lane of traffic while the cars on the other side flowed past.

I usually find ( and do it myself ) that if a car stops to let someone cross that the car in the opposite lane stops too.

This annoys me too and I just shake my head and wave them on. I'm also trying to teach my kids road safety and it can just be confusing. I think some people pretend to be helpful to make themselves feel better when it's not at all helpful and sometimes dangerous.

I got a minor on my driving test for waving a little elderly lady across in front of me. I thought I was being nice! My examiner said it can cause confusion as they might not see it, and then you think they aren’t going after all so you proceed, and then they go after all and there’s risk of a collision.

Now I only wave people over if it’s completely safe.

It also happens on roads with two carriageways; cars on the pavement-side lane stopping for pedestrians while the traffic in the other lane is moving. This is even more dangerous as the outside lane cars can't see what's happening. As previous posters have said it shows a lack of awareness.

My kids will have it drummed into them to just ignore and make up their own minds when to cross and not feel pressured by drivers behaviour.