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?

As I've said she is 10 so fully taught about road safety already.

But you must be telling her that it's OK to cross diagonally because YOU think it's OK to cross diagonally. And it's not.

You may have actively taught her how to cross safely, but you are also inadvertently teaching her the unsafe diagonal method by modelling it. That is what the PPs are getting at. Like you, she will now go about her business knowing what she should do and what's best practice, but actually doing the quicker and less safe method.

There used to be one like that here until they pedestrianised the area. This has one phase when both crossings have the green man. We cross in a way that most of the time we are on the direct crossing. When the car sounded their horn we were on the direct crossing, they were just annoyed that we were still crossing as the lights changed.

So why did you mention the incorrect diagonal crossing? Would you be happy your DD doing this alone?

As I've said she is 10 so fully taught about road safety already

Are you really that naïve to think she'll cross the correct way when alone if you've taught her to do this?

He was wrong to shout but you shouldn't cross diagonally apart from places where it's designated eg Oxford Circus in London

I know you say people do it all the time but that doesn’t make it right. Do you know the driver is local and knows people do this? They certainly don’t do it locally to me!

he shouldn’t have shouted but no, you shouldn’t have been randomly in the middle of the road either.

We were almost across the road as the lights changed. The car sounded their horn at us as the lights changed. I mean what are you meant to do if you are slow crossing? Run back the other way? Or just stand in the road as cars drive around you? We were no where close to being dead or in hospital. At the end of the day we were on a crossing with the green man on until we were almost across.

We were on the crossing.

As I've said she is 10 so fully taught about road safety already

…and just been taught that it’s okay to ignore road safety and that it’s fine to take risks.
Ridiculous to cross on the diagonal.

Not sure why you have started this thread as you seem convinced you are right and not taking on board the many reasons why you were not.

This gives a bit more of an accurate idea of how we cross so most of the time we are on the direct crossing. We usually make it all the way across before the lights change. We must have been slightly slow at crossing today and the lights changed as we were a few seconds away from the pavement.

But you weren't on the crossing because there isn't a diagonal crossing there.

You should never cross diagonally at a crossroads. You were in the wrong.

Very almost across? So not almost across? You're setting a terrible example for your child. You say she knows road safety but you're clearly not teaching her to stick to the correct way.
It's against the Highway Code, you are in the wrong and responsible for the woman in the car getting irritated.

The crossings are timed for average time it takes people to get from one side of the crossing to the other. Of course some people are slower and cars have to wait.
They aren’t designed for people cutting across roads diagonally so that will be why the driver got annoyed and rightly so. Cross roads properly.

I wasn't asking why (it was obviously impatience) I was just describing what happened for context. But of course impatience isn't a justifiable reason to beep at a pedestrian.

*not fully across I mean

We were almost across the road as the lights changed. The car sounded their horn at us as the lights changed. I mean what are you meant to do if you are slow crossing? Run back the other way? Or just stand in the road as cars drive around you?

Use the crossing properly? You weren't ON the crossings. You were at the junction and walked diagonally across the road. Where there were no markings or crossings.

Fair enough.

It wasn’t impatience it was because you were crossing incorrectly.

Can anyone else see my question?

I've asked three times if she'd be happy with her DD doing this alone, she seems to be ignoring the questions?

Am I invisible @UndertheCedartree

Even there, I'd be wary of doing that with a child in tow - because they might assume that all junctions with pedestrian crossings have a pedestrian-only phase - and plenty do not.

Highway Code rule 7.B - 'Do not cross the road diagonally.'

Well no I don't know that which is why I asked. I've not found anything to say it isn't allowed. Most of the time the pedestrian is on the direct crossings, there is enough time while the green man is on to cross. We were just a bit slow today and hadn't quite reached the pavement as the lights changed. But we were on the direct crossing with the green man on. If we crossed on the green man and walked directly across but didn't make it across in time - would that be ok? Or is a pedestrian being slow a reason to sound your horn and be aggressive?

I'm asking technically as a pedestrian are you allowed to cross diagonally

No.

or is it against the highway code?

Yes.

What's more, there no reason why you and your 10yo can't get across the road in a timely manner. The timings are set to give plenty of time to get across. If you're late for school why are you crossing so slowly? Pick up the pace.