Recent-ish new highway rules that favour the pedestrian - I fear accidents

[DistingusedSocialCommentator]

The stop and give way to a pedestrian crossing a road at a junction. That is what the majority of sensible road users have done anyway

Along with the above comes a new bit "Give way to pedestrians waiting to cross the road at a junction." This IMO will result in more accidents, EG, those that drive to close to the driver in front. The driver in front indicates to turn left like a good driver but at the junction off a main road is a pedestrian waiting to cross. The good driver stops to let the pedestrian cross and bang into the rear of the car goes the driver that was driving up their arse.

We often turn left into our close of a busy, main road and I always fear some seriously ignorant driver going into the rear of one of our cars if we had to suddenly pull up as there was another car shooting towards the main road as turning often has cars parked on one side.

If you are a good driver you should know this but here it goes: You are coming off a main, or road for that matter and hoping to turn left into another road. A pedestrian waiting to cross. You stop and there is a chance on the main/bigger roads the driver behind you is a moron and driving to close to you as you indicate and slow down before that. The rule applies to turning right as well but that is not as risky

AIBU to believe this new law will result in more harm than good, EG more car-to-car accidents when a car driver gives way to a waiting pedestrain/s to cross?
(I always slow down in advance to turn but have noted many times idiots right up th backside of our car and I think, what if I had to stop to allow someone across the road or there is something in the road and this new rule will just cause more accidents as many that have a licence have no idea how to drive safely and within the law)

I always try to keep a good distance as people turn into another road or their drive for that matter etc but I feel this new rule has not been well thought out

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-highway-code-8-changes-you-need-to-know-from-29-january-2022

But surely this is the case in all circs - if the driver behind is too close they will hit you if they don't slow down and you do?
I can't decide not to slow down because of an idiot behind me, especially if there is a risk that I will hit something in front of me if I don't slow down.
My expectation is that driver A wishes to turn (left or right) so in good time, they indicate and slow down. If necessary, they stop (perhaps poor visibility, perhaps pedestrian, perhaps other car in road manoeuvring). If idiot drives B behind doesn't respond to signal and decreased speed, then yes, they will hit driver A, but driver A is unlikely to hit anything else as a result.
If the car behind you was going too exceptionally fast, they'd hit you as soon as you slowed to turn - regardless of pedestrian.
If you get hit by the car behind, it's likely that you and car behind will have damaged bumpers etc. unless car behind is a lunatic, one assumes they will at least attempt to stop.
If you hit a pedestrian, the results are far more catastrophic than car behind you not stopping and rear ending you (unless they are lunatic, then everyone is going to be injured very badly, but again probably more so the pedestrian).

So to sum up my thoughts - I'd rather some idiot rear ended me than I hit a child or pedestrian or cyclist. Perhaps next time they won't drive so fast and will leave stopping time.

This thread is about just that. Nowhere does it state the driver in front would rather hit a pedestrian. This is why I advocate good driving that all drivers indicate, slow down, read the roads better and as per rules, pedestrians take some responsibility like many do but a lot dont like the examples I have give.

When another driver is driving dangerously behind you and hits you in the rear of your vehicle at at times speed off, it is better to anticipate the situation like I do but an equally ignorant of the rules pedestrains/s do not help

I refer you to my previous post here post and link to the responsibilities a pedestrian has.

I'll let you have the last word as my posts are clear about everyone taking responsibility.

The most useful aspect of the rule change was clarifying assertive cycling positions to give better safety to cyclists.

As a pedestrian, I still look carefully and only cross when safe. As a driver I still approach junctions and crossings with caution and give way if safe. If it's safe behind me to pull up, I'd rather get a dithery pedestrian safely out of the way. I can't change the behaviour of someone else tailgating me, particularly when I'm already clearly indicating and going slowly ready to respond to any hazards around a corner. Stopping and causing a rear end shunt is not safe driving particularly if you're aware the the driver following is impatient/ not being attentive.

Same.

And as a pedestrian I don't trust drivers to stop. 90% don't even seem to know it's my priority. So I stand at the side of the road and wait. But I can honestly see why a lot don't, given other road users. If all pedestrians just started taking the space I suspect it would cause problems and not a few pedestrian -car collisions.

The rule about giving way to a pedestrian waiting to cross doesn't make sense to me. It's likely to cause a driver to clog up the main road. If you have a stream of pedestrians they could be stuck there for ages. Especially bad if the driver is turning right.

I live in London - I assume everyone is a shit awful driver and approach crossing the road on that basis.

There was an incident outside our office a little while ago.

Pedestrian crossing the road, in line with the new rules, car driver hooted at him, so the pedestrian just stood in the road and wouldn't let the car past!

Cue the driver going totally apeshit at the pedestrian, who was shouting back about the new Highway Code! This went on for about 10 minutes!

Think the pedestrian finally got bored and went on his way.

I know the new rules, but both as a pedestrian and a driver I take extra care. Someone let me cross earlier today and it caught me by surprise as it is a rule that seems to have passed many people by.

I don't let pedestrians cross if I think the car behind will bump into me. It happens alot near me. Busy roundabout and whether going left, straight on or right if there's someone waiting UNLESS i'm virtually stationary anyway i keep going as i'm not risking damage to my car or my children being injured. Imo the pedestrians need to wait until it is safe to cross, not expect cars to brake unexpectedly.

I think that is fair enough

The law says differently. It shouldn't be "breaking unexpectedly" unless the pedestrian is invisible.

I can't picture how this works in terms of accidence avoidance - if you slow down enough to check for obstructions and turn safely isn't someone going to hit you anyway if they really are driving that unsafely.

Probably doing about 15 - 20 mph. It's usually when I'm turning right at the roundabout. Cars behind aren't expecting you to stop as you're exiting the roundabout so I think if I decided to stop to let someone go there's a high chance the car behind wouldn't notice and would bump. I know they should but I also know how badly many people drive...

Agree. I haven’t noticed a difference either. I still have to wait for a driver to be kind enough to stop for me. Some do on one side but not on the other so at certain junctions I have to wait ages for both sides to stop to let me cross and it’s a residential area so pedestrians should be expected especially near two schools. I wonder how some of these drivers would cope if they couldn’t drive for a short period and had to walk or walk to public transport would they be more considerate afterwards or return to being inconsiderate.

Posters on MN moan about the States, but living here makes me miss the various stop signs in residential areas that made it safe to cross even when there was no pavement to walk on when I lived there.

Hardly anyone actually does give way to pedestrians waiting to cross . That will be why there are no more accidents caused by waiting cars, if this is the case. More likely to get beeped at or accelerated at if you try to cross!

I don't love pedestrians crossing at any junction, not even when I am a pedestrian.

It works fine in some settings like quiet residential neighbourhoods. Or two lanes with good visibility and traffic isn't too fast.

But where you have extra lanes, the traffic tends to come fast, or it's very busy (or a combination of these often) it seems to me like there are too many things that can go wrong, and the person on the losing end is likely to be the pedestrian.

Yes, ideally cars would drive properly, not follow too closely, and so on. But you can't base complex safety systems on the assumption that everyone will always do the right thing. There will always always be failures and errors.

What I have noticed more recently where I live is intersections and crossings that seem increasingly fraught because of extra bike lanes and weird crossing signals. Next to my mum's house you have to prepare to cross a bike lane, a line of parked cars, and two wide lanes of traffic that is often rather fast and includes busses. Worse, there are these green bike lane markers all along that seem to frig up my sense of how far away the cars are, especially where they curve around corners.

No way I'd cross that street unless in a designated spot, it's too risky. Saying I have the right of way really doesn't change that.

But you need to be able to see them in time in order to break safely at whatever the speed is.

That isn't just about visibility, it is about what else is going on that the driver is paying attention to. Coming out of a roundabout, the driver is also going to be paying attention to other cars coming out of the roundabout, and when a pedestrian appears, the driven still needs to check behind to make sure there is enough distance for the car following to stop too. It's not just academic, it isn't safe to stop if the car behind is too close.

Given where crossings are on a lot of roundabouts it almost seems like they are placed so the drivers won't be able to stop in time!

I'm not sure what your post is wanting. Is it a rant about pedestrians having priority? Is it specifically the situation of pedestrians having priority over crossing roads where you are turning left into that road?

AIBU to believe this new law will result in more harm than good, EG more car-to-car accidents when a car driver gives way to a waiting pedestrain/s to cross?

Why is a car-on-car shunt more harm than car-on-pedestrian? One of those will result in a serious injury, the other is fixable and claimable on insurance.

Why the hell should the pedestrian go an extra 30m out of their way because some impatient SUV driver can't wait five seconds for the car in front to have a clear way into the side road? Deal with the guilty party, don't punish the victim.

OK, own up! Which one of you was driving a dark orange Range rover 10 minutes ago? When I turned onto the roundabout and waited for Darby and Joan to cross from the pedestrian island?

Come on. enquiring minds want to know!

Don't be ridiculous, motorways are dedicated to motor vehicles, the clue is in the name. Streets are shared between all users and the ones in heavy metal boxes need to drive appropriately.

The Dutch have "auto te gast" on their signs. Making it clear that on residential streets, cars are guests and must give way to pedestrians and bicycles.

So we should let cars drive on the pavement?

After all the pedestrians have a greater responsibility.

Frankly, it's terrifying that so many drivers seem to view the highway code as optional when pedestrians are involved.

You should be traveling at a speed where you can observe your surroundings and come to a stop in decent time. If you're slamming your breaks on, risking the car behind hitting you, it's because you're going too fast and reacting too late.

Pedestrians are responsible because we do not have a choice.
Car brained people who have legs purely for decorative purposes are not.
They do not care if someone will be killed because they parked on the pavement, because they speed, or someone might need the space more (for example someone who is disabled) etc.
They do not think how mother with a pram or a person on wheelchair is supposed to use pavement when cars are parked there.
Losers (for example 8 years old going to school) are supposed to understand that the bigger and safer, who had to demonstrated that understands road code are the priority.

I am surrounded by lots of stupid people. Men who park their cars on the lawn opposite my house, teenagers swimming in the Thames etc.
Can I stab them? Is capital punishment really the standard we aspire to?
Or is it only the privilege of drivers?

They already do drive on the pavement.