To have shouted at the person who walked out in front of me?

[Biancadelrioisback]

I know I was really, but why do people do this?!
People who walked onto the road in without looking properly, or people who see you driving on the road or reversing out of a space and decide to walk there anyways? I've had to slam on my breaks so many times recently and today was the straw that broke the camels back.
Driving down the main street in my town and a lady with a young boy (around 8 maybe?) walk out in front of me. She clearly saw me, I saw her look at me, she just walked out with her hand raised as if to say thanks. I had to slam my breaks on so the stuff on the passenger seat fell into the footwell. There are crossings on the road for pedestrians so no need to walk out where she did. The child didn't event acknowledge my car, was just chatting away to his mum/the lady.
I had the window down anyways and I yelled out that she needs to look before crossing the road rather than just expecting cars to stop. She yelled back at me to fuck off but I drove off so no idea what followed. So frustrating!

It is worrying when people don't look before crossing & step out infront of traffic. She risked her & her child's lives. Unfortunately if she keeps doing that, one day a car or van won't be able to stop in time. So YWNBU to shout at her because she or her child would come off worse. Hopefully she was just reacting / trying to save face, but will think about it later and be far more careful next time.

She was in the wrong (stop, look, listen, as the old advert goes) and should have waited until it was safe to cross. Pedestrians should never assume traffic has seen them and will stop for them.

Pedestrians and drivers both have a duty to ensure their safety and the safety of others, although the driver always has the greater responsibility as the driver is the one in control of a potentially lethal object. Despite this, she was clearly in the wrong here.

I hate it when people do this and then put their hand up. Unless you're Magneto, you arent stopping my car with your hand! Its so dangerous

Winterfell I could not agree more. I hate that little hand gesture!!! Unless used properly

If this is happening to you on a regular basis you need to check your hazard perception skills. If you see a pedestrian who looks like they might cross the road, slow down and prepare to stop whether it's a pedestrian crossing or not.

Sometimes it's hard to find a break when you're a pedestrian. If more drivers acknowledged the fact that there are hardly any crossings & it's nice to let people out...

I recently had a teenager step out from between two parked cars (looking down at her phone) about half a meter in front of my car. Luckily I was travelling at under twenty as it’s a built up area and managed to stop literally millimetres from her. She screamed and burst into tears. I made sure she was ok and she was so apologetic and (rightfully) shaken up.
Could’ve been so much worse and I had to pull over further up the street until I stopped shaking

I do that, too. Arrogant pricks. I don't behave like that as a pedestrian so I don't feel guilty about startling them.

I literally say in my OP that there are crossings

YANBU. I've never yet shouted at anyone, but I frequently mutter to myself "I am driving a tonne of metal you know". I'm pretty observant and cautious near high risk places like car parks and crossings aware that someone could come from any direction, but some people aren't and I'm amazed that there aren't more accidents when unobservant/ entitled pedestrians and motorists meet.

I particularly hate the ones who saunter, steadfastly ignoring the fact that you've pulled up or been forced to a stop for them. You know they know you're there, but not a glimmer of recognition.

I know and all those cars that jump red lights or don't stop at pedestrian crossings or turn into a side road that I've already started crossing and don't stop. So frustrating!

Don't get me wrong, I think cars that dont stop at crossings or go speeding past zebra crossings are absolute arseholes, but that doesn't make it okay for pedestrians to walk out and just assume the cars will all stop for them

And it doesn't make it ok for you to shout at them. Just drive carefully and chill out a bit.

I was driving carefully. That's why I was able to stop in time.

You might be but this drives me nuts too.

Every single day 4x a day I have to drive through my town centre and there are endless people too lazy to walk to the crossing 20m-100m away. The ones who get off the bus and walk in front of it so I can't see them til very late are a particular bugbear.
Particularly dangerous ones I beep at.

Shouting doesn't help matters

Oh my god, I actually hate it when people just walk out in front of you expecting you to stop. I don’t mind letting people cross but seriously I live in a touristy area and some of them just think that car drivers just let them all bleddy cross and they walk out in front of you. Drives me mad.

She was in the wrong, maybe she was frustrated because she was waiting to cross for ages? Still doesn’t make it right though. Not setting a good example to her son either.

Where I used to live, it was teenagers. Not all of them ofc but the vast majority would just walk out without looking just expecting car drivers to stop for them. They don’t even look up. Infuriating.

I live in a town that is stuffed with well off retired people, and also a fair quantity of teenagers attending a very well known public school, as well as the main secondary school for a massive catchment. It's actually the older people who are the absolute worst for not being arsed to walk 20 feet to a safe zebra or pelican crossing but insist on blithely walking out between parked cars or just behind a blind corner because it's the most direct route to Waitrose!

I did this a few days ago. Adult female, busy fast road, on mobile, didn't even look. I would have killed her had I not been paying attention and slammed my brakes on.

If you know its a problem then just drive accordingly. God forbid your journey is hampered by an oap going for a walk

Vulpline, I'm not sure if you are being deliberately obtuse but bore off lovey.

If you are reversing out of a space (or performing any kind of manoevre) it is up to you to constantly observe and update your plan of action, you should be looking round all the time, there isn't any excuse for being caught unawares if you are reversing, keep checking, be prepared to stop.

Walking on front of you when you are driving down a road is annoying though (I always kind of assume people are going to do something stupid (they usually are round here)

From a pedestrian point of view (when I happen to be walking) I find no one round here seems to have heard of signalling on roundabouts. No one signals left when they are leaving, they don;t even look where they are going - so no clue there either, Basically you have to wait until the roundabout is clear before crossing as relying on the idea that anyone not signalling is going on to a later exit, would get you run over very quickly. (driving in the correct lane on roundabouts is also unheard of and I have even seen people drive round roundabouts the worng way - which is pretty bloody alarming when you are faced with it.)

So I think the annoyances cut both ways for drivers and pedestrians.

YANBU at all. Where I live in the last 5 years it used to be just the local teens walking across side roads without so much as a small glance behind to check if a car is about to turn into the road. Now loads of the adults do it too. 😡

If this is in Chiswick, then there is an unsaid rule that you can walk across every road and have cars stop for you

@moaningminniee
Agreed, pensioner aged are worse than teenagers. I drive a hybrid so not really got any engine sound, the amount of people who walk out- don't even hesitate at kerb- the few I've spoke to always say 'I never heard your stupid car', they are listening for cars not looking. I now have an amazing emergency stop!!