Woman stepped out in front of my car

[User5306921]

I was driving on a relatively busy road. I was going straight but there was a right turn ahead of me.
The traffic going in the opposite direction was at a standstill.

I noticed a woman with her head in her phone, standing at the edge of the footpath.

I'm not sure why, probably the way she was too close to the edge of the path, but I slowed down a bit, I was doing maybe 20 miles under the limit on the road.

The woman literally stepped out on the road right in front of my car. I braked suddenly, thankfully didn't hit her, and she continued walking across, head down, still looking at her phone.

I got an awful shock. The car going in the opposite direction (who had stopped in the traffic jam) threw his hands up in the air. I don't know if he was gesturing at me or at her.

I was so shaken. If I had hit her would my licence be revoked? I don't have dashcam.

Many years ago, I remember my driving instructor telling me to watch out for people on footpaths in case they step out in front of me. I am very watchful when I see elderly people or young kids.

I can't get it out of my mind.

AIBU - It would be my fault if I hit her and I'd lose my licence.
YANBU - This would have been the pedestrian's fault.

This has happened to me twice and I’ve only been driving a year. It scares the crap out of me.

I had this a few weeks ago. A young woman just stepped out, didn't even look, it was nuts. Luckily I braked in time, always drive a tad under the speed limit and have a dashcam.

FWIW I'm a pedestrian 99% of the time (walk to work, shops and gym) and hate that cars are meant to stop for walkers when turning into a side road. Just bloody turn then l'll walk when I'm happy it's clear. I refuse to budge and some drivers get really arsey about it.

The same thing happened to me a few years ago.
I was driving down a road where a secondary school is, at the end of the school day. It’s a horrible road at the best of times but at school end it’s awful.
I was going relatively slowly and a girl with her face in her phone stepped off the pavement directly into my path. I slammed on the breaks then beeped my horn loudly. Gave her the fright of her life, but I was so shocked that I could have hit her, I wound down my window and screamed at her in front of all her friends. Literally screamed blue murder “I could have hurt you’” “ why did you have your face in your phone when crossing the road”. I was angry and shocked. Took me ages to calm down.
I phoned the school as soon as I got home to tell them the story and advised them to ramp up their road safety lessons.

I paid £30 for mine after a cyclist lied and said I’d know he’d him off his bike and damaged him and the bike.

I learned they are essential for proving what you didnt do.

Once a pedestrian puts their foot in the road they have priority.

FFS. Keep banging that drum. And go step out into the road whenever you feel like. See how long you live for.

If the OP had driven over the top of that girl, then the OP would not have been at fault. Because that girl had no right of way to cross the road at that point.

Goodness what a bunch of self-righteous drivers here.

You're the one using a killing machine so you're the one who needs to constantly scan ahead, anticipate and take preemptive action. When in doubt, take your foot off the accelerator and "cover the brake" i.e. be ready to brake.

A pedestrian does not need to have the right to cross the road. They have the responsibility of using appropriate caution. Drivers have the responsibility of anticipating what other road users (yes, pedestrians count) might do.
Far too many drivers seem to think their imagined rights trump their responsibilities. Cars do not own the roads, much as you might wish they did.
OP is a great example of driving according to the conditions and not seeing a speed limit as a target.

Get one off TikTok shop - I paid £30 for a really good on from here and it’s front and back and side cameras on it and high storage and works when car is parked too

Next time beep your horns loudly and repeatedly and shout at her - only way people like this learn

This is what the RAC says. It’s about priority and responsibility. In this case the pedestrian was irresponsible. However car drivers will always be the villain!

Well yeah pedestrians might have priority but they can’t just step out into the road with no consideration for their own safety! Yes I drive under the speed limit and appropriate to the conditions of the road, and yes I am alert to pedestrians about to cross but I’m also driving a metal box weighing what, half a ton or more? Physics means that even being alert, decelerating and braking I still have a minimum stopping distance and if the pedestrian steps out without factoring that in we’re both fucked.

I had this recently with a chap crossing a side road - he was waiting on the central island with his dogs yet decided to start crossing as I was turning in. Of course I stopped, he had priority but he’s lucky I did or I’d have squashed his poor dogs. Fucking stupid way to make a point about his priorities IMO.

That’s completely different. You should have been stopping whether he was crossing or not. It’s the same as a red light. If you see a pedestrian trying to cross a side road and you’re about to turn in, then you must stop. You don’t just stop if they decide to “chance it.” If there is a pedestrian at a side road, you shouldn’t even be making the turn. You just stop and wait. They have the absolute right to cross that road and you are not meant to turn until it is clear. Same as a red light. It’s a no go for you until clear.

It is completely different from a straight road. In your situation you expect them to cross because they have the right of way and you don’t and you absolutely know that you just have to wait. On a straight road, you don’t expect them to just talk out because they don’t have right of way.

You’re the idiot in your scenario. Not the pedestrian. Go and learn the Highway Code. In your situ since it’s not a “stop when they touch the road because I’m not allowed to run them over” it’s a “stop when you see them waiting to cross because you need to give way to them, same as giving way to the right at a roundabout and stopping at a red light.”

Not with their faces in their phones they don't...

These things happen, if she genuinely stepped out and you wouldn’t have had time to react, it wouldn’t have been your fault. Similar ish to the case a few years ago where a woman shoved a cyclist and she fell into the path of a car and the cyclist died. The car owner wasn’t prosecuted as there was nothing they could do.

I think you need to get a grip and get over it though. Shit happens when you’re driving. You can only be as careful as possible and react quickly, you can’t do anything about the stupidity of other people.

Sorry she didn’t shove the cyclist, she shouted and gestured and the cyclist fell

Fair point

I’m not sure what your FFS at? I won’t go step out into the road because although I’d have priority it’s still quite dangerous if I do it with a car in close proximity.

If the OP had driven over the top of that girl, then the OP would not have been at fault.
Correct it would of been the girls fault!

Because that girl had no right of way to cross the road at that point.
Wrong she had priority

It’s not about ‘banging that drum’, it’s about reading and understanding the Highway Code 🤦‍♀️

If you're a pedestrian, not paying attention to your surroundings is to tacitly expect other road users to pay more attention to you than the road and other vehicles. Therefore I take that as you the pedestrian accepting all the risks that behaviour incurs. Everyone using the road has an equal amount of responsibility on the road, be it driving, cycling, riding or crossing.

A dashcam will be cheaper than dealing with all the hassle that could arise from an accusation of negligent driving, @User5306921.

If you’re approaching a roundabout from someone’s right, you have priority. They need to let you go. If they choose not to and just blow through it anyway, you stop your car because they are now on the roundabout mid-manoeuvre so have now got priority and you cannot drive into them. But they did not have priority to enter the roundabout; they acted outside the law.

If a pedestrian is walking down the street and you are driving alongside on a straight road, they do not have priority to cross the road and you do not need to stop and allow them to cross if they are waiting to do so, because they do not have priority. If they choose to step out on the road in front of you, at that point you need to try to stop and give way because they now have priority. But they actually had no right to step in front of you, and they’ll get themselves killed doing so. The reason the driver isn’t going to get done for it is because the pedestrian did not have priority and and the driver cannot reasonable be expected to have anticipated their stepping out in front of the car.

Whereas at a junction, if you see a pedestrian waiting on the pavement then you have to stop and wait for them to start crossing. Because the pedestrian has priority, they don’t need to have their foot on the road. They have priority and you need to wait.

If you run a pedestrian down because they step out at a junction and you haven’t stopped then you are at fault as they had right of wait and you acted outside the law.

If you run a pedestrian down because they step out infront of your car while you’re driving along a straight road then you are not at fault because you were driving correctly and they’ve acted outside the law by stepping in front of you when they had no right of way.

It’s worrying that you cannot understand this. But some people are a bit stupid when it comes to the roads, we see it everyday. I’m sure you think it’s ok to walk in front of a car because once you’re on the road, you have the priority but it’s really not. You’re stepping off that pavement is acting outside of the Highway Code.

@Coconutter24

You do not have priority for the actual act of stepping off the pavement. If you do that, no driver is getting prosecuted if they cannot stop in time despite trying to take evasive action. Because you do not have priority.

Pedestrians cannot just walk in front of a car and claim priority.

They have priority if they are ALREADY ON THE ROAD. But if you’re driving alongside a pedestrian, they don’t have the legal right to step in front of you. Because physics. We cannot magically stop our cars when a pedestrian decides to step right in front of us.

But probably not more than the current value of being able to drive, or of dealing with an actual accident...

Get a dual camera front/rear camera like this:
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If they choose to step out on the road in front of you, at that point you need to try to stop and give way because they now have priority.
You’re calling me stupid but above is a quote from you, yet is that not what I’ve said along? You’re telling me when a pedestrian has priority but that’s exactly what I have said.

The OP asked if it would have been her fault if she had hit the pedestrian. The answer is no, it would not be, because that pedestrian did not have priority to cross that road at that time. She made a choice to act outside of the law and step onto the road. The OP obviously then has to do all she can to avoid hitting them, but the pedestrian did not have priory to cross the road, the OP would not be expected to anticipate that at all.

You answered, “well, the pedestrian had priority.” As if the pedestrian was actually legally entitled to have priority to step into the road and cross at that point. She did not.

That’s what priority means - who is legally allowed to go. The pedestrian was not.

Once they’re in the road, you have to stop. You can’t legally run them down on purpose. But in this situation, if you do, you didn’t do anything wrong. They stepped in front of your car at a point on the road where they did not have priority so you were not prepared or expecting to have to stop.