To have been scared enough to shout at her?

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

OK. So I lost my temper a bit and wound my window down to shout. Maybe I should have asked if she was OK first!

I was driving down a single lane, potholes and all. A woman was coming walking towards me and I wish I had an Idiot Walker Bingo card.

1. Mask tucked under her chin
2. Phone tucked under her ear, chatting
3. Scratching a long length of scratch cards

I slowed and pulled across the road as far from her as possible.

She walked partway onto a drive

As I waited she walked - didn't stumble or anything, just walked - out in front of my car.

I had stopped she didn't even notice and actually walked into the front of my car.

At that point I wound my window down and, as she screamed at me, or whoever it was she was on the phone to, that I had run her over. I shouted back and wasn't particularly polite about it!

She eventually walked round my car and we both went off on our way.

But fuck! She scared the hell out of me!

I drive that road every day, to walk the dog. There are always people, kids, dogs there. But I've never seen anyone with as little self awareness!

And having typed that I feel calmer, but FFS!

@Jacketpotato84

You both had a close call, you were both scared and shocked by what happened hopefully she will learn from this and be more aware and cautious when walking on a road. The most important thing is nobody was hurt. You are probably still a bit shaken go and have a cuppa, gather your thoughts and calm mask wearing is irrelevant here take it back to basics, human error im sure

That's basically it!

I walked the dog. Came home to an empty house and just wanted to tell someone!

Cup of tea and biscuit helped

Hopefully she'll have had someone to moan about it with. She can't have been any less shaken than I was!

@SmidgenofaPigeon

No I never said you made it up, I just thought the scratch cards but was odd, I’ve never seen someone able to chat, walk and scratch cards simultaneously, but then I guess that why she nearly got run over.

Me either! It was one of those slow motion moments as she walked into the car... I could tell you what she was wearing from head to toe too!

Bloody stupid thing to have done!

Ok fair enough sorry OP. Let’s hope she’s a bit more aware next time.

I didn't say it was law but it's basic cop on and common sense.

@AdobeWanKenobi

Froth bingo!

Mask ✓
Scratch Cards ✓
Talking on a phone ✓
Road Rage ✓

Twins for a full house?

For a true MN full house the twins should be wearing oversized bow headbands and drinking coke from a bottle.

So you slowed down, pled over away from her and had stopped the car when she walked in front of you? How were you scared?

Jeez hopefully this woman takes the incident as a wake up call so next time she's out, she doesn't do the same thing in front of a car going at 60 miles an hour who isn't paying attention. I would have shouted too.

If you saw her in plenty of time to stop and and she walked into your stationary car, why in earth were you scared?

Because the woman screamed at her and said she had hit her with her car.. she was shocked and scared.. perfectly normal human response. Is that ok?

Why was I scared? I can't think of a better word for that moment of fright, held breath, slow motion, utter bemusement, as something unexpected happens.

It was odd.

I shouted

She shouted

Nobody was actually hurt!

I forgot I posted in AIBU. Shouldn't expect people to have any empathy, for either of us!

Did she win any money off the scratch cards?

misses the point

You lost me at mask under chin. Get a life.

I think we've all absent-mindedly walked into the road once or twice, haven't we?

I walked into a lamppost once whilst concentrating on a leaflet I'd picked up about mindfulness.

Yes, it's annoying. Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, we're only human.

@AdobeWanKenobi

Froth bingo!

Mask ✓
Scratch Cards ✓
Talking on a phone ✓
Road Rage ✓

Twins for a full house?

Sounds par for the course. No one with their head screwed on wastes money on scratchcards. Do responsible supermarkets sell them?

A lot of walkers are utter twats who a) aren't looking where they're going and b) think it's everyone else's responsibly to avoid them/keep them safe.

I'm a runner and I'm sick to death of walkers who don't look to see who's coming when they cross the road so yell at you if you dare to pass them when they haven't seen you coming (and I wear a neon pink jacket, so I'm very visible!), are on their phones, are so busy chatting they're completely unaware of their surroundings, stand on one side of the path with their dog lead across the middle and dog on the other side, or stand 2m apart from their companion either side of the path and then yell at you for going between them (where else can I go?). Lockdown walkers are the bane of my life at the moment!

Oh but it was! She was walking down a narrow lane without paying any attention whatsoever to her surroundings! Is that common where you are? It's really bloody not round here!

Why weren't you paying attention to your driving? Who the fuck watches random pedestrians when driving on a single narrow lane with potholes??

@Lookslikerainted

You lost me at mask under chin. Get a life.

I could have got one... hers ... which was the point!

@Haffiana

Oh but it was! She was walking down a narrow lane without paying any attention whatsoever to her surroundings! Is that common where you are? It's really bloody not round here!

Why weren't you paying attention to your driving? Who the fuck watches random pedestrians when driving on a single narrow lane with potholes??

What other time on the road is it more important to watch them?

And did you type that up before you read the whole of the OP?

I had pulled over to the right and then stopped!

It's a regular route for dog walkers, people with kids, etc.

There are videos on You Tube of women being killed from walking into traffic while engrossed in their phones.

We have stopped for women engrossed in their phones who have walked into busy traffic, one had a little girl holding on to her hand, if it had been a driver who was in a hurry/not paying attention they would have been in deep shit.

Pre-virus I would stop and wait if someone was walking towards me with their face in their phone, just to see if they actually realised they were sharing a public pavement or whether they thought they had exclusive rights.

@Haffiana

Oh but it was! She was walking down a narrow lane without paying any attention whatsoever to her surroundings! Is that common where you are? It's really bloody not round here!

Why weren't you paying attention to your driving? Who the fuck watches random pedestrians when driving on a single narrow lane with potholes??

Personally, when I’m driving, I try to avoid potholes AND pedestrians.

I don't understand why it scared the hell out of you. You'd stopped. You'd already noticed she wasn't paying attention. Were you scared she was going to damage your car? Because if you were stationary, this wasn't a scary event ... except possibly when she started shouting at you.

@Haffiana

Oh but it was! She was walking down a narrow lane without paying any attention whatsoever to her surroundings! Is that common where you are? It's really bloody not round here!

Why weren't you paying attention to your driving? Who the fuck watches random pedestrians when driving on a single narrow lane with potholes??

And it’s generally a good plan always to be aware of pedestrians as you’re driving. A few years back, I was driving in town, in a 30mph area, and noticed a young man standing on the edge of the pavement at my side of road. He was looking in the direction I was driving, and there was just something about him that made me wary. I slowed right down, and fortunately was driving at not much more than walking pace when he stepped out in front of my car. He ended up on my car bonnet, staring in the windscreen at me!

I stopped, he slid off my car, and fucking ran away!

So, yeah, always look out for pedestrians, especially those who clearly aren’t paying attention to their surroundings. The OP did well to have stopped, and I can understand why she got a fright.

I feel like the mask has been mentioned because it's almost a sure fire way to guarantee people are onside on mumsnet atm, hence it being, for some unknown reason, point number 1.

Your whole post could of been shortened to:

A woman who was distracted walked in front of my slowed down/stopped car. I shouted. She shouted. The end.

@sunsetorange

I feel like the mask has been mentioned because it's almost a sure fire way to guarantee people are onside on mumsnet atm, hence it being, for some unknown reason, point number 1.

Your whole post could of been shortened to:

A woman who was distracted walked in front of my slowed down/stopped car. I shouted. She shouted. The end.

Quite. The mask is irrelevant and was included to add drama to a not very dramatic story of 'Somebody walked out in front of my car and then I dramatically didn't run into them.'

You can feel what you want, @sunsetorange

Yes I could have shortened it. I could have not bothered to post at all! How boring MN would be if we all decideid not to bother anyone woth the oddities of their day!

But, if you read through my later posts, you might also get the feeling that the 'slow motion' of the moment meant I was, for a brief moment, hyperaware of her. I stopped my description of her at the face mask, phine and scratchcards as it was those things that were odd, out of place. Her watch, earrings, coat, jeans, trainers weren't!