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?

Also not sure why some people are so obsessed with what drivers have to do? Even if they don't have to slow down or stop, why wouldn't you want to? Why you prefer to potentially run someone over? What is so hard about slowing down a bit approaching a zebra crossing? Pure selfishness.

A driver should not have to assume people are jumping out behind cars on a crossing without any chance of being seen

Good grief, that is literally what a driver should do if approaching a crossing with bad visibility.

But, OP, as many have said, always wise to use extreme caution as a pedestrian because apparently there is no bar to people like the first responder getting a driving licence, unfortunately.

Drivers still have to drive appropriately for the conditions. If visibility is poor, slow down. It's not complicated.

Drivers have to give way to peds waiting to cross at a zebra crossing.

Everyone should be really careful at zebra crossings. There is one near us that annoys me. The main reason being is that it is on a busy road so there is often traffic there. So as a driver you have no idea if cars have stopped for someone crossing or just because for traffic, and like in your case if there are big cars/busses you can't see the crossing. I do try and approach it slowly, but you get annoying people behind you who are impatient 😒. So I also have to worry about cars going into the back of me. But people will just jump out assuming that as one side of traffic is stationary the other side will be to. I'm waiting for the day someone gets run over. They don't always place them in the best locations.

Source? I repeat, if you cannot see the full crossing you cannot assume it is clear.

You think it's bad here, you want to see the driving in Rome!! They just drive straight through whether you are on the crossing or not. You take your life in your hands every time you cross. It's the most scarey driving I've seen in a city (and that includes the likes of London, Paris, New York, Madrid, where drivers aren't exactly shrinking violets!)

Had it happen to me once in north London going back to my flat. Waited to cross, car stopped. No obstacles, clear road. No car coming the other way, so I crossed. Half way across, something that I will never be able to explain, told me to stop and check again. Just as I did, a car whizzed right past me. One more step and I'd have had it! Was shaking like a leaf after. Am still very cautious on crossings all these years later.

You should always pause to check

My advice to my children was you never ever set foot on a zebra crossing unless both sides are stationary.

But that doesn't work when a car has stopped to let you cross and there's nothing coming the other way at the point of starting to cross. The driver is going to wait for ages until another vehicle turns up and stops at the other side! And if you never set foot on them, technically a driver isn't obliged to stop!

There are some terrible drivers on this thread! I’ve almost been run over on a zebra crossing too. The cars had stopped, but someone decided to go round them rather than stopping behind them and waiting? If I hadn’t been cautious I would have been run over. They were driving quickly too.

Highway Code Rule 193 @Caspianberg

"And if you never set foot on them, technically a driver isn't obliged to stop!"

They are obliged to stop if they see a ped waiting to cross.

Unfortunately they "should", but they do not have to stop unless a pedestrian has stepped onto the road.

@TimeandMotion - . I could literally come to a stop and roll over crossing, but if someone steps out behind a car without looking I could hit them.

I have read the Highway Code.

Im not in uk anymore , here left hand turns at junctions often have green light for cars and zebra crossings at same place. I never step on a zebra crossing without looking as there’s no guarantee people will stop. We also have lots on the local 100km roads, it would be super unsafe to keep slowing down to 5km at every crossing in case a hidden people leaps out rather than stopping only when someone is visibly waiting.

Well bugger me! When did that change?? 🤣

I was once waiting to cross at a zebra crossing pushing a pram. A nice driver stopped to let me cross. As I walked out the driver behind him overtook him on the crossing nearly ploughing into my son. The first driver and I were WTF??

I could literally come to a stop and roll over crossing, but if someone steps out behind a car without looking I could hit them

@Caspianberg I have no idea what you are talking about. There is no “behind a car”. You stop at the crossing, from where you can see left and right from pavement to pavement, see that it is clear and move on.

You’re saying it is “super unsafe” not to drive across a pedestrian crossing when you can’t see half of it? Jeez Louise.

Yes, if the driver could only see half of the crossing because the SUV was blocking their view, they should definitely slow down until they can see the way is clear of pedestrains.

Nice diagram @UsernameRandom19

But surely you'd rather hit them at rolling speed than at 30mph? And frankly, if you couldn't stop at rolling speed, I'd question whether your faculties are such that you should be driving at all.

I thought the Highway Code had been tightened up recently to favour pedestrians over drivers .

If they are crossing a side road for instance drivers are meant to give way so surely a zebra crossing is another one where drivers should give way

@TimeandMotion
the highway code
https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians-situations-needing-extra-care.html
It’s tells you to as a pedestrian to not cross in front or being buses or large vehicles. If you can’t see go carefully. So op who says she walked halfway out without also not being able to see the other side of the road is just as much of a problem as a car not stopping.

there is a ‘behind a car’ in op case. She said she stepped out onto crossing behind a car so she couldn’t see the other sid wig road. Then was surprised a car came past on other side. It’s not at all surprising. If she didn’t see the road or car left, then how would a car also see a person hidden behind a large stopped vehicle? See op diagram

Highway code rules for pedestrians do not negate the rules for drivers. They do not depend upon each other. I'm not sure why you are struggling so much with this concept.

I've noticed so many pedestrians now don't look at the driver or even at the crossing. This means you aren't sure they are want to cross and it's not helped by the increasing number of adults who stop to have a gossip by a zebra crossing. This leads to every group of cars going past stopping.

The drivers who don't stop and I've been nearly run over a few times don't have that excuse as I've actually been on the crossing.