Were we wrong to cross the road in this way?

[UndertheCedartree]

I was taking my DD to school this morning. There is a junction where we need to cross over the road in front then cross over the road to the left. Lots of families including us cross diagonally as it is quicker than crossing both separately.

We were late this morning so there were no other families around. We were crossing the junction and a few seconds before we got onto the pavement a car sounds it's horn loudly at us (scaring poor DD) then came round the corner and started shouting and pointing at us. I just ignored the driver as they were clearly very angry so no point in trying to have a civil conversation.

I always thought if a pedestrian was crossing a road then a car needs to give way to them. Or are we wrong to cross diagonally?

Sounds like an arsehole

I think they should have given you way:

At a junction, drivers, motorcyclists, horse riders and cyclists should give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning.

Let me guess, he was a man? I've been called a cunt by men for daring to cross a road.

He was an arsehole who behaved in an unacceptable way. Having said that, I wouldn’t cross diagonally with a child. I’d do it the way you’d want them to do it if they were alone ie the safest possible way.

Diagram? I'm trying to figure out if by not crossing one road and then the other, if that means you're coming from somewhere hidden / obstructed / dangerous? Diagonally crossing two roads at a junction instead of one at a time might be the issue here, but they shouldn't have been shouting or pointing!

Was it a junction where crossing diagonally means visibility is reduced and it's harder for a driver to see a pedestrian crossing the road?

To be honest though if this was close to the school & at school run time, drivers should hyper aware of families/school kids on the route. I'd have expected a lot more patience, the driver sounds like a bit of a prat.

You should be teaching your child to cross one road at a time!

You should be crossing roads properly and teaching your DC to cross roads properly to. That means going from side A to B as safely as possible. You should not be going from A to C missing out B.

Absolutely unacceptable for the driver to be shouting at you but you are being incredibly unreasonable crossing the road like that with a child when two crossings have been provided. Complete waste of money trying to keep people safe if they just ignore it.

This!

Never cut corners crossing the road with a child.

It doesn’t matter what anyone else should or shouldn’t do - you have a child with you and you want them to learn to look out for their own safety, so you should be teaching them that. Yeah, they shouldn’t have shouted but you should have crossed properly.

If it has traffic lights and they're timed together so that pedestrians have a green man for all of the 4 roads at the same time, then YWNBU to cross diagonally. If it has no lights or the lights are timed so that you don't have a green man on all 4 at once then YWBU, that's dangerous with a small child. I'd probably risk it as an adult, but I wouldn't do it with a child.

My mother taught my brother and me to cross like this. I mean, she didn't actually say this is how you should cross the road but if she was running late taking us to school she's do it diagonally, i hated it and used to be so anxious when she'd grip my hand and drag me over because I knew it was an unsafe way to cross.

Most kids started waking to school on their own about 8 which I know not many do at that age now so I'm not saying this to scare you but then when my brother realised he was late he crossed the road the same way and was hit by a care and had to spend six weeks in hospital with a few broken bones and it took him a good year to fully recover. I used to say to her that school says we shouldn't cross like this and she's say "I'm your parent not your teacher"

When I had my own child dh used to be a impatient because I'd always wait for the green man if I was with dd. Even if the road was clear and everyone else would go over before the green man, I'd stand there telling dd she should wait for the green man and probably sounded like a twat to everyone else but after what happened with my brother I'd rather her be taught to wait and reduces chances of being hit.

The driver sounds like a twat but there's twatty drivers all over and you can't rely on the be to going the correct speed or to do the right thing. I've had so many close calls even when using pedestrian crossing or crossing safely.

Technically the driver should give way to crossing pedestrians, but the driver would expect you to go straight across the road from one side to the other. He would not be expecting you to be in the middle of a junction, and may not even be able to see you properly.

It is a very dangerous way of demonstrating road crossing to your child. Young children find it hard to assess speed of traffic etc, and should only be doing this on a single crossing, not having to take into account traffic approaching from multiple directions.

Well you have right of way so driver shouldn’t have been like that but but it doesn’t make you right

yiu should cross each road individually and teach your daughter his to be safe crossing !

You are wrong to cross diagonally.

@UndertheCedartree he was an arse!!

However, with the kids I wouldn't do it, I get all 'boring responsible adult' and criss one at a time, even when I can see it's clear. Simply because I hope that means they're less likely to take risks they're not as good at calculating as I am!

it's hard to know without photos of that exact junction, whether he 'expected' you to do that or whether it would have been completely unexpected, but as a driver I treat all pedestrians as idiots and as a pedestrian I treat ass drivers as idiots. I find it the best way of staying alive & not killing anyone.

@GrootUnforgiven I'm so sorry about your brother! That must have been traumatic for you too. I'm an impatient arse crossing the road when I'm by myself, but not with a child (or others children waiting at the crossings) I can't believe your DH,ESPECIALLY knowing about your brother was impatient when you had DD with you!

It was actually a woman!

Do you mean diagonally like going corner to corner at a cross junction or do you just mean you didn't take the most direct way across the road

Yes, that is a good point. She is 10, though so understands the difference between crossing the road with an adult vs. if she was on her own.

Of course you shouldn’t have crossed that way. You should be teaching your children about road safety. They will copy what you do as they get older and walk themselves.

I hope this is clear. The arrows show the 2 ways you can cross. If you cross the 2 roads separately you do have to wait for the lights again for the second road. Diagonally you can get across or very almost across before the lights change.

There are some roads where crossing diagonally is safe i.e. crossing with one phase for pedestrians or quiet junctions. Others it maybe that you need to do one road at a time. I understand the temptation though. I seem to spend so much time waiting to cross at junctions designed to move traffic at the expense of pedestrians. There is one cross roads near me where there are different pedestrian phases for each direction of the road. You would have to wait for the green man four times to cross the two roads - madness

I always thought if a pedestrian was crossing a road then a car needs to give way to them.

I’m not sure if being ‘right’ about having right of way in a busy road would be much consolation if you were both dead or in hospital.

If it was safe for you to cross (as in green man for pedestrians), how was the driver on the road? Had he gone through a red light? Or were you crossing when it wasn’t green for pedestrians?

By crossing diagonally the cars view of us is not obstructed in any way. I'm not sure what the driver expected us to do at the point of beeping us? Were we meant to stop in the road and give way to the car?

She's 10 so obviously already knows to do that when alone in the future.