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?

See rule 193 and stop digging.

the point I am making is that if you do what any sensible driver would do and stop so that you can see the whole crossing, the OP in this scenario would not be “coming out from behind a car” she would be directly in your line of vision.

You can’t accept that both driver and pedestrian need to take care here, can you?

@Kinshipug - because this isn’t about the driver? Op was a pedestrian. I’m not saying the driver is right or wrong, op started this thread as a pedestrian. So she follows the pedestrian rules of looking carefully when stepping out behind large cars if blocking view.
The rules of drivers or zebra crossing is irrelevant here. Op was a pedestrian who stepped into road, yes on a zebra crossing, but into road she couldnt See down without looking.

Yes you would assume or hope a driver would stop on zebra crossing, I would, I am a very careful driver. But not everyone is so it’s really dumb to assume

She said she stepped out onto crossing behind a car so she couldn’t see the other sid wig road.

@Caspianberg show me where in the OP she said that she could not see the other side of the road? She actually said that she paused to check nothing was coming, the implication being that she knew that drivers would not be able to see her. She obviously could see the other side because she paused to check it.

You are the opposite of a careful driver if you steam through pedestrian crossings at 100km/hour when you have no idea if anyone is on them.

and

Op was a pedestrian who stepped into road, yes on a zebra crossing, but into road she couldnt See down without looking.

What sort of person CAN see without looking?!

You have zebra crossings on 100km limit roads? Without the limit being reduced before the crossing? That doesn't seem safe

The thread is literally about the driver. And honestly I don't believe for a second that you are a safe driver based on your comments.
The suv should not have blocked the crossing, the other car should have slowed down prepared to stop and OP should have waited to cross. All of those things are true, and none of them are continent upon anything else.

Probably the worst piece of bad driver excusing I’ve ever heard. A half competent driver would slow and check for pedestrians appearing from behind a vehicle if they can’t see.

Have you actually got a licence because if you drove like on a test you’d fail with a major fault?

@TimeandMotion op said ‘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’.

So when she stepped off road no, she couldn’t see cars, and neither did cars know she was on the first half or crossing surely? She obviously did stop and saw which is fine, but is saying what is
saying she should have been able to walk across without worrying as on crossing

@Natsku yes. We have lots of long mountain roads which have crossings on. They only slow down speed if it’s through residential areas. But these will be say on hiking routes when someone might occasionally want to cross. It’s fine, you can clearly see them as no parks cars or paths. Towns are 50km zones, but ours has maybe 5 crossings in a 2 mins walk along main road. They often have delivery trucks blocking visibility and I use a lot as pedestrian but I wouldn’t just walk across without stopping at truck edge

@NewPapaGuinea - yes. And I am super safe driver. I do personally stop, and check etc. but I don’t know anyone else who does, and as a pedestrian probably 1 in 10 cars don’t stop at all so it’s not unusual.

Maybe im just basing this all on Mainland European's crossings that nobody ever seems to stop at. Sorry if British ones are really different (I don’t remember them being hugely)

At no point did she say she should have been able to walk across without worrying.

She pointed out that the oncoming car did not give a shit if she was on the crossing or not. Her question was whether the driver should also have paused.

You believe that the driver was entirely correct to leave it all up to OP. I, the Highway Code and many others disagree. But at least you’re not on UK roads so I’m going to leave you and your dangerous, entitled driving to continue to wreak havoc wherever you live.

Let's also remember that this was a car park. People walking around should 100% be expected and anticipated all of the time. This is not a remote mountain road. McDonalds car park! There is no excuse for not stopping at a zebra crossing in a car park.

Ah right, seems dangerous to me to have a crossing on those roads, but if they're on straight stretches with good visibility so you'd see someone crossing from far enough away to slow down from 100kmp/h then I guess its not so bad, but in those situations you aren't going to have one car stopped blocking the view are you? Its not like in residential areas, where speeds are more limited, and you can have two lanes each direction. In those in my country you have to stop if one car has stopped, its the law. Are you sure its not the law in the country you live in?

@Natsku yes of course if one car have stopped. But in this scenario as far as I can see it’s a car has gone past zebra crossing and stopped the other side ie in traffic, so that’s the suv blocking, no other car was stopping to let anyone cross. It’s the same rules here re stopping if one car has

If the crossing was in car park then surely the moving car was also going slow car park speed so couldn’t have gone much slower

I find the little zebra crossings on shop or fast food carparks and roads leading out of them, are often not very well placed, for visibility. If they were proper crossings they would have No Parking zig zags, to prevent obstructions. Drivers have to be especially aware and should be driving slowly anyway on a car park. I never rely on cars stopping when on foot in a car park.

Really surprised by these replies. I'd say about 70%of drivers stop for a zebra crossing even when view is unobstructed and they can clearly see people waiting. The other 30% sail straight through. I would definitely never expect a driver to slow down just in case someone was crossing from behind a parked car. I mean obviously they should, but I wouldn't ever step out confident that they would stop in time.

As a cyclist if I stop at a zebra crossing to let someone cross, it's fairly common for a driver to overtake me from behind and carry on over the crossing. Never actually seen a collision but there have been a couple of very near misses.

It isn't safe to have a zebra without adequate visibility so they should paint some zigzags or get rid of the crossing. As it's in a car park it might not meet regulations. Well meaning but actually making things less safe

Years ago, people would stick their arm out at the side of the road to indícate they wanted to cross.

I would definitely never expect a driver to slow down just in case someone was crossing from behind a parked car.

I can’t really get into the mindset of anyone who would approach an area of road where pedestrians might be and yet not want to be sure that nobody was in the road. Should be second nature, surely?

I agree it's awful so many people in a rush with no regard that they are basically driving a weapon! In towns you should always go slower as other people who are pedestrians are often lacking in common sense as well! Not you, but many are and just walk out. Xx

It isn't safe to have a zebra without adequate visibility so they should paint some zigzags or get rid of the crossing

Zigzags don’t prevent people stopping either side of the crossing in traffic queues.

I hope your parents sued that driver for everything he/she was worth. I too drill this into my kid’s head. Drivers don’t stop and neither do a lot of cyclists.

As a driver how would you feel if you knocked down a pedestrian, you would have to live with that for the rest of your life to save 5 mins off your journey

McDonald’s won’t give you the CCTV. You need to report it to the police and they will contact McDonald’s if necessary.

Yep. I just got back from Rome.

Crossings mean nothing to them (neither do any road 'rules'). I figured out that if I made eye contact and stuck my hand out whilst crossing, they were less likely to run me over- or at least they would swerve around me, so I didn't have to jump out of their way. Very interesting experience.

But there's still a car blocking the view of the crossing, that means the driver is supposed to approach carefully not just drive over normally. It doesn't matter what reason there is for poor visibility, whether its a car stopped, or illegally parked, or just not gone past you yet, you have to make sure you can see the whole crossing before going over it.