To think cars just don’t stop for pedestrians like they used to?

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There’s a busy road near my house. No pelican crossing but zebra crossing in place on both sides of the road which has a little island bit in the middle.

Used to be able to cross just fine!!! Now it’s a neverending battle to get across and end up waiting in the middle bit like a dork for minutes as no car will let me across! It’s never stop/start either as I could just go across then but always just car after car flying down the road and barely anyone stops any more.

I’ve noticed it in other areas too, like people seem to not say thank you when you hold the door open, they barge past without saying excuse me.

is it just me or are people just generally getting ruder? It took me EIGHT minutes to cross the road this morning as no one would bloody stop!!

Around here, people seem to have developed a habit of just crossing whenever and wherever they feel like it, and if you have to slam on your brakes or even dare to beep at them, they stick their fingers up at you

Well it will happen everyday for the people who have drives like that, my parents house does for example. You asked the question of why would you wait for a car crossing the pavement, I gave an example, clearly you don’t like the fact that example exists and here we are both contributing to an entirely pointless circular argument…but, whatever as you say.

As for waiting when a car exits a drive?

Nope, pedestrians on a pavement have right of way.

And as for blind spots. It's the drivers responsibility every time. Bugs me when the blind spots are caused by some twat not trimming his hedge etc. And surely it would be easier and safer to reverse in and drive forward out? That's what I do when I can.

Some driver are just plain stupid and self-centred. (Some pedestrians are too, of course)

Considering the amount of times this year alone I’d had to quick step back once already crossing outside a school on a zebra because cars seem to think they can fly across no fucks given. I’d say yes it’s gotten much worse than it was. In fact there is two crosses a mere 2 minutes apart for two schools so it’s also all the crazy school mums nearly running down parents and children too. It’s shocking tbh.

I think the opposite. It used to be that in the road the car was king and pedestrians went into it at their peril and this was drummed into everyone.

There was a guy on TV called the green cross code man who instructed you how to cross the road (people were a bit thicker in those days and still got confused between horses and cars).

These days the pedestrian is king and can pretty much do anything without fault and without thinking, so car drivers have to be a lot more careful.

I certainly drive a lot more slowly and carefully in built up areas. On motorways I drive faster though (although this is slowly but surely being stopped by cameras).

bibbityboppityboo · Yesterday 18:17

I think the issue is drivers should give wait to people waiting to cross, but they don't have to until someone has started crossing. Some drivers take this as liberty to just keep driving!

It used to be the case that a pedestrian had to have a foot in the road, but the law was changed recently and drivers need to give way, if they are turning in, or going from a side road to the main road. I've always done that anyway.

If you're pulling out of your drive across a footpath you should definitely give way to pedestrians. They have right of way!

Why would a driver hold up a pedestrian who is going much slower? If I’m pulling of the drive on a cari wave the pedestrians on, I don’t make them waitbyblickingtne pavement

That's not for zebra crossings though, that's for side roads 😊

Used to be able to cross just fine!!!

More cars, more traffic calming and lower speed limits mean roads are more congested. That is probably why you can't cross so easily anymore.

I've noticed it in our village. Used to be a 40mph road (well in fact it used to be a 50mph before I moved here). Now it's a 20mph. The result is that traffic is "bunched up", so instead of free flowing traffic with large gaps between cars, it's now a steady stream of nose-to-tail traffic. That meant people couldn't cross as easily, so they put in traffic islands, speed bumps and zebra crossings, which slow the traffic even more, meaning even fewer gaps between cars.

Add to that more and more people (size of village has doubled over the same period of time), meaning more and more cars, and it's no surprise that it's harder to cross the road.

Actions (even well meaning ones) have consequences.

i just put my hand out to say stop and walk across, there either going to have to stop or run me over

Wow, I wonder where you are? A car not stopping at a Zebra crossing would be really unusual here and we are in the complete opposite of a nice genteel area! Everyone stops, everyone says thank you. And this is a town famous for being "Chavvy"

Maybe that's it actually. MIL used to babysit at our house one day a week. She lives a couple of towns along in a much posher area. She remarked that people were much more likely to hold a door open for her with the pram than they were in her home town. Maybe it's only common as muck types who know how to treat people properly these days.

The driving where I live is now atrocious, I am convinced its post lockdown issue with people just not bothering to get licenses.

I live near a series of four mini roundabouts. you GIVE WAY TO THE RIGHT.

It’s just sheer impatience and the fact it isn’t the law in this country to stop at zebra crossings which needs to change. I went to Krakow a couple of months ago and it was amazing walking everywhere because pedestrians trump drivers and drivers have to legally stop to let you cross. Every road has a zebra at either end and they legally must stop if someone wants to cross. I couldn’t believe every driver stuck to this law because I’m sure many still wouldn’t in the UK but they all did.

Clearly people aren't observing the highway code properly and even some posters on here showing they don't either! So no wonder this is becoming an increasing problem

bibbityboppityboo · Today 10:24

That's not for zebra crossings though, that's for side roads 😊

Fair enough - it's not unknown round my way for people to put their foot down at zebras, but I wouldn't say it was common.

LOL
I live in the South and have the same issues as the Op.

Talk about generalise.

Yes sorry, no offence intended! We're travelling around the North so I guess it's foremost in my mind. I can't get this blowing your horn at pedestrians thing. Why? Why not just slow down and let them cross safely.

I saw a driver blow his horn at a guy using a zimmer frame yesterday. Admittedly it was on a crossing and the lights were green for cars, but really . . .

That's sort of my point, the self entitlement. You're seeing it in a driver who is expecting you as a pedestrian to wait for them. But in this scenario the pedestrian has the (legal) self entitlement to carry on walking.

What I am remembering from 30 plus years ago was when a pedestrian would notice that a car was pulling out from their drive and wait as a courtesy. The driver and pedestrian would usually make eye contact and the driver would either wave them across the driveway and wait for the pedestrian. Or the driver would wave thanks/thumbs up/whatever and drive away with the pedestrian waiting for the car.

Regardless of who has legal right of way, this interaction is more pleasant. And keeps the pedestrian safe

Of course the pedestrian has right of way on the pavement. However if a driver didn't see the pedestrian walking across their drive and hit them, it's the pedestrian that's going to get hurt. So moral indignation about who has right of way isn't much use to you then!

But that’s obviously not they type of situation that we were talking about. I walk to work, not far but approx 2 miles. In that time I pass 1 drive that has limited visibility. The rest are perfectly normal drives where the driver can see who is on the pavement.

Your suggestion of a little bit of give and take only seems to benefit the driver, as usual. Imagine that scenario at a roundabout for example - it just obviously wouldn’t happen. Perhaps it’s best if everyone just follows the rules of the road?

But that’s obviously not they type of situation that we were talking about

It's the situation that I was talking about when I first posted my point 🤣

I'll add to the 'sexist' comments.

I live in the SE and I've noticed that driving has become more dangerous.

One thing that Ive particularly noticed is drivers pulling out of side roads or onto roundabouts without looking and also driving through chicanes when they don't have right of way.

It's usually women.

I’m talking about your last paragraph.

I've also noticed that pedestrians used to stop and wait when a car was pulling off their drive. They don't do that anymore.

This one does!

But I was replying to someone who gave no indication as to there being a visibility issue, just a courtesy issue - in fact they later talk about having eye contact with each other, so clearly not an issue.