Almost got knocked over at a zebra crossing

[UsernameRandom19]

I have attached a badly drawn picture I did in paint. I was walking out of a Mcdonald's car park and walking across a zebra crossing and was half way across the zebra crossing (im the yellow dot in the picture). There was a big SUV (red car in picture) so I stopped a second to make sure nothing was coming, and it is a good thing I did because just passed the zebra crossing without stopping. I was half way on the crossing and she did not notice me even when she drove past me. If I did not stop I would have been run hit.

Peoples driving seems to be alot worse nowadays, surely if there is a zebra crossing and reduced visibility due to other cars you be careful and make sure no one is crossing.
I was mentioning it to my mum and she said I should contact Mcdonald's for CCTV footage to report to the police for dangerous driving - should I or is that silly?

Highway code useful here:

Zebra crossings. Give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross. Vehicles will need more time when the road is slippery. Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing. Drivers and riders should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross and MUST give way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing (see Rule H2). Keep looking both ways, and listening, in case a driver or rider has not seen you and attempts to overtake a vehicle that has stopped.

https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians-crossings.html

But realistically, drivers around me know that they can do what they want and nothing will happen. There are no repercussions.

What are you on about? It was a pavement to a main road, not inside the McDonalds car park. A zebra crossing is signposted with pillars with flashing lights, not to mention the stripes on the ground.

If you cant see then you need to get off the road asap.

Yes, report them.......the driver of the the SUV could have severely maimed or killed you. So reporting them is anything but silly.

At zebra crossings, pedestrians have a right of way.....The idiot driver was probably stoned.

Most mornings I drive over a crossing in a place where the traffic on the opposite side of the road to me is queuing. Cars leave the crossing clear in the queue but this means (as I think was the case with the red SUV) that sometimes I can’t see the first half of the crossing (to my right) as I approach it. So I slow right down, maybe even come to a stop, until I can see past the queuing car to ensure the crossing is clear. Sometimes there are indeed people on the crossing.

The number of times a car behind me has beeped at me to keep moving is unreal.

To play devil’s advocate, however, pedestrians should also be careful here. If I am pedestrian crossing the first half in those circumstances I would stop and reassure myself no traffic was approaching before stepping out from behind the queued traffic.

That said, I tend to understand the driver’s vantage point when I am a pedestrian because I am also a driver, in fact a driver who drives often in those specific places. You can’t rely on non-driver pedestrians to think in the same way.

(My bugbear is pedestrians who walk really close to the kerb on streets where cars are squeezing past each other, not realising that they are at risk of being clipped by a wing mirror. Keep away from the edge people! )

If you look at her diagram you’ll see that the SUV was not the car that did not stop.

OP was crossing behind the SUV.
The SUV was blocking the view of the crossing of the driver of car that did not stop. It blocked the view presumably because it was so high.

Sometimes you get a zebra crossing with an 'island' in the centre in which case both zebra crossings are treated separately, so you do not have to stop if you are driving towards it and someone has stepped off the first part, but not reached the 'island' however in practice most people, me included would do so. NB not sure why photo has sensitive content on it.

My philosophy on the roads is to treat everyone else, whether driver, pedestrian or cyclist, as a concussed duckling.

So even if a Zebra crossing looks clear, I still slow down and look left and right for anyway stray ducklings running onto the crossing.

Plus I have astigmatism so I’m cautious with myself too.

This has served me well, I’m coming up to 20 years no claims bonus this year.

The onus is always on the motorist to be aware and able to stop.

Adult DD was knocked over by a car on a crossing in the city centre. Luckily other than a few cuts and bruises she wasn't hurt. The police attended and although she told them herself that she was partially to blame by not looking and stepping out without warning, the driver was still charged and convicted.

Sorry this happened to you OP. I always stop and wait for cars to stop before using a zebra crossing but even that is not safe. I once walked over one with my two DC - one in a pram and another on the buggy board. Cars on both sides of the road had stopped but as I walked over the crossing a woman overtook the three cars waiting for me to cross and almost knocked me over. She was absolutely hellbent on getting past those three cars that were waiting for me to cross. My guess is that she had been speeding round the corner at the end of the road and pulled out around the cars rather than smash into the one at the rear.

This. It’s a legal requirement to stop at a zebra crossing if there is a pedestrian on it - due care and attention requires that you slow down on approach to check whether someone is crossing. ‘Not visible’ because of two other STOPPED cars as you approach it is even more reason to stop.

OP, you might have been a child. Driver should be reported.

I've started to really dislike zebra crossings with 2 lanes as I've found myself in this scenario more than once as a pedestrian.

Surely the SUV was illegally parked? I'm pretty sure you can't park that close to a zebra crossing to avoid circumstances like these.

Of course they should have stopped and it was dangerous that they didn't, but I personally think it is OTT reporting it to the police given no accident actually occurred.

I think virtually all of us have had close calls as both pedestrians and drivers, people not stopping even they should, pulling out when they shouldn't, thinking it's cheese when it's not, unwise overtakes, misjudging speeds etc. If we are being honest, some of these close calls will have been us being the driver, and we've afterwards thanked our lucky stars that nothing terrible happened, and vowed to be extra careful in the future.*

That's not to say that it's ok, it's not, but that thankfully there are a lot more close calls than accidents. All we can hope is most of the time people learn from their mistakes.

• It's those that think they've never screwed up that I worry about.

It wasn’t parked. It was in slow/stationary traffic.

I teach my children to wait to cross on any crossing until they can see clearly that it is safe in both directions

@Butterflyfern The suv (red car in the picture) was stationary behind the blue car waiting to pull out onto the main road

I tell my children that whether they are drivers or pedestrians they should assume all other road users are high on drugs and act accordingly!

I would never step into a zebra crossing unless I could see it was safe both ways. I would never drive onto a zebra crossing unless I could see the whole crossing

Agreed. Thankfully I'm aware of my surroundings as both a pedestrian and as a driver. Recently I was crossing a zebra crossing that went the whole width of the road. Instead of OP's SUV blocking her from sight of any oncoming vehicles, I was hidden by a bus. I walked slowly, knowing I was invisible, and it's a good thing I did because if I'd been walking fast on the assumption that I had my right of way, I'd have been knocked over by the bus coming the other way!

The poor bus driver got a terrible fright when he realised I was there but thankfully I'd thought ahead. So many others wouldn't have. We've all seen people crossing roads without looking properly, or looking at their phones.

The driver in OP's original example should have approached the crossing with care, on the assumption that someone might have been crossing.

I would report it if you believe that even when you were visible the driver still hadn't seen you, or hadn't even bothered to look. My example I didn't report because the bus driver did see me, and had been cautious, but it still surprised him that I'd got so close. The look of shock on his face showed me he'd taken note of what could have happened.

Please report. Happens regularly at the crossing near my daughter s school. How I or anyone else not been hurt I don't know
Re the first person s comments...as a driver it your responsibility to check the crossing us clear. I hope you not a driver. Report as it's dangerous driving

Is this a formal crossing with lights and zig zag lines or just some random white lines painted on private property ?

Ideally zebra crossings should always work. In practice they don't, because people make mistakes and random situations can arise that affect peoples perception/visibility.

Even though as a pedestrian you have right of way, I always make sure I get eye contact with drivers before going across a crossing. Because they are in 2 tonnes worth of protective steel. And I have nothing.

By ensuring both parties take care and responsibility, more accidents are avoided.

Is it in a McDonalds car park? If so its probably more of a courtesy crossing than a legal one so no Police action
Having said that in a Mc Donalds car park is bloody obvious there will be lots of people and possibly kids so drivers should be going slow enough to see and stop at any crossing.
I am glad you are Ok OP

There’s a zebra crossing right outside my flat. It’s in a pretty stupid place as it’s on a bend with side roads coming off within a few feet both sides. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard cars screeching to a halt as they come flying round the corner and realised someone is using the crossing.

It’s particularly precarious in the winter when it’s dark. I had more than one car swerve round me when I’ve been crossing the road with my dog. Despite us both being in reflective gear.

What is all this nonsense about it being “random white lines” or a “courtesy” crossing?

All drivers should know that areas of road with white lines on them are where pedestrians might be. Do you really think that you can mow down a pedestrian in the Tesco car park and get off scot free?

Yes, there may not be an automatic penalty charge for failing to stop but it’s still a crime to injure or kill someone with your car, no matter where you were at the time.

The standard of driving has definitely gone downhill. These days you cannot guarantee a car will not sail through a red light despite the green man being illuminated and the beeps clearly audible.

I hope you don’t drive if you think that’s acceptable. Being almost knocked over by an ignorant car driver who appears to need their eyes tested is not a non event. The onus is on the car driver to be vigilant to pedestrians at all times