AIBU to think the driver was wrong?

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I was waiting to cross a road with my toddler. I always teach her to push the button and wait for the green crossing indicator to light up - even if there isn't any traffic.

She had pushed the button and we were waiting as cars sped by. Then one driver stops at the crosswalk (even though the traffic light was still green) and gestures for us to cross. I shook my head and continued to wait. Then he honked at us, and pointed at us again to cross. I ignored him. Then he sped off while honking again and flipped me off as he drove by.

Obviously dude has issues, right? But generally, AIBU to wait for the crossing green for our own safety, even if a car stops while the traffic light is still green?

He thought he was being kind but it’s really not helpful when you’re trying to teach a little one.
Wouldn’t over think it.

I don't know why you posted this as surely you know that encouraging someone to cross the road when lights are green, sounding the horn and swearing are all indeed unreasonable.

Definitely he was wrong. Another car coming the opposite way might not have stopped or someone behind could have overtaken him.
Had accidents like this during my line of work.

No, you were teaching your child the very important facts of road safety. You did the right thing. When I was learning to drive I was told not to regard other peoples' hand signals, as you can't be 100% certain they are meant for you, or that they are taking movements and actions of others into account.

One of my colleagues had a minor car prang in a multi-storey car park a few years ago. She thought the other driver was waving her on so she pulled out. Turned out that she wasn't gesturing to her but waving at a friend in amongst the parked cars. The waver drove into her and she was at fault for pulling out.

I'm sure the driver in your case meant well, but it's a bad lesson to teach a child that they can ignore traffic lights and the crossing beeps if someone is waving at them.

You were 100% right. Best wishes to you. x

I'm doing the same with my DS. He was definitely in the wrong! I get the fear of this happening every time we cross though!

Oh this drives me nuts! Car drivers trying to wave you across the road without taking any notice of the rest of the traffic - worse when you were actually at a crossing that wasn’t green for you to go.

We get this a lot where I live - they think they’re being helpful, but the road next to mine is just one cross roads after another and they’re not taking account that pedestrians need to be able to look in all directions and be sure nothing is coming.

I’ve had this but not at a lights crossing, where a car stops at a crossing and cars are still coming on the other side but they get all annoyed because you won’t cross even though the other side isn’t clear 😕

I used to hate this when my children were small. I know they think it's helpful but they are not taking into account traffic coming the other way or from side roads. I adopted a technique of either talking intently to my child or looking the other way.

Yanbu - what he did wasn’t necessary, and his reaction certainly wasn’t.

It's a pet peeve of mine when drivers try and wave you across the road when with a young child.

If we're at a crossing, we wait for the green man. If there's no crossing then we look left and right and I teach that you have to look for a safe gap in traffic because cars are dangerous and will keep going until they run you over.

I don't want my 4 year old thinking cars will stop for you, it's so unhelpful when people do this.