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.

You answered, “well, the pedestrian had priority.”

No I did not answer with that. The OP asked about fault and I wrote

Yes it would have been the pedestrians fault they caused it but in the Highway Code they have the right of way….

That was my answer not “well, the pedestrian had priority. The priority talk came after

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.

I’m pretty sure in this situation or any situation if you run them down on purpose you would of done something wrong 🤦‍♀️🙈

@Bobiverse Yeah if you saw the junction in question you’d think differently. I’m not an idiot. As I said, I saw him and I stopped. Most other drivers wouldn’t have done as who really thinks hey this chap waiting in the central island of a wide junction off a 50mph bypass is going to just walk out in front of a turning vehicle he can see indicating and slowing to turn, letting his dogs go first.

I’m just lucky no one went into the back of me really.

I’ve been driving for 37 years. I’m a good, safe driver who’s never had a my fault accident. I’m very aware of the Highway Code. I’m very aware of pedestrian rights, and as a runner I know that whilst I might be in the right to know I have priority it means fuck all if I put myself at risk. Everyone needs to use a bit of common sense, drivers and pedestrians alike.

I have had 3 incidents going at under 10mph on my motorbike when in every case they were caused by the pedestrian not looking and stepping into the road/walking into my bike. The funniest was when a bloke had to grab hold of me to stop the whole bike falling over as he's run into the road and the back of my bike. He was quite nice actually but SO apologetic!

I had this happen to me a few years back and it did end up being my fault! Although I did hit the woman: no injuries as I wasn’t driving fast and had slowed down as much as I could as soon as I saw her step off the road.
I was fuming to be honest as there were many other cars driving down so I’m not sure why on earth she decided she would cross. She was with other people as well who remained on the pavement.
Anyway as I said she won, claimed whiplash and compensation for her mental health 🙄 actually said that I had waved at her to cross! Which baffles me as that sounds like I deliberately drove into her if that was believed!
Anyway you’re lucky you saw her so good job on being a better driver than me! Otherwise I think it probably comes down to what she says, and some people can be twats

I live in a student town and it's a fairly common occurance to see young adults engrossed in their phones stepping into roads without looking, particularly side roads near the uni buildings.
It wouldn't have been your fault if you hadn't been able to stop in time, hopefully witnesses would have been able to back that up

My favourite one was a girl who stepped off the pavement while staring at her phone and walked into the side of a car stuck in a traffic jam, the surprised look on her face when she bounced off was comical

But are you actually suggesting that people should be able to freely step out into traffic whenever they want and force drivers have to stop on a sixpence? Earlier this year my partner was driving down a busy road near our home when a kid suddenly darted out on his bike from behind a lorry that was going the other way, he was a foot from my partner's car and ended up going up the bonnet and through the windscreen. Luckily my partner does the speed limit & the kid walked away from it but nobody blamed my partner including the lad and his parents yet you are saying it's everyone's free right to walk / cycle in front of vehicles at a seconds notice and put drivers through that hell!

Last year I had someone slam into the back of me when I was in standing traffic and write my car off, you think it's safe for pedestrians to force drivers to slam on with a risk of a pile up behind? That kid shattered glass all over my partner at 30mph, are you suggesting that vehicles should travel everywhere at 10mph so pedestrians can be as silly as the want?

No you are not allowed to just step out and create extreme danger! There is a new law about crossing inside junctions and it's truly awful law because motorists can't always see around a junction until it would be too late and my partner and I have had the experience a couple of times of crossing inside a junction because a car has acknowledged the new law and stopped for us but the next car coming into the junction overtakes the car that's stopped and nearly mowed us down! I would advise everybody to ignore that law and stick to common sense.

years ago only a few years after i passed my driving test i had a similar experience with a child that ran full pelt across the road coming from in between parked cars after being waved at by their mum from the opposite side of the road. Luckily I had been going slowly as it was by a school and my parents always warned me to drive really carefully around a school. I had literally no chance of not hitting them and the child (around 8 years old) rolled across my car bonnet landing on the road next to my car. Of course I had immediately stopped and went to see if they were ok - child was conscious and was luckily ok. An ambulance came and checked them over. The police also attended. It was a truly terrible experience - kids screaming and crying, adults screaming and crying, people yelling all kinds of things at each other and literally making stuff up - I heard that it was a hit and run, also that a car had come out of a side road, I heard different colours and types of cars that it apparently was and all manor of excessive speeds that the car was apparently driving at. Police asked me to go to the station to give a statement and read me my rights which I did there and then. I then heard nothing for about 8 weeks. I then got a letter stating that they take this type of incident seriously, that they had been out and taken measurements of tyre marks to check stopping distance and speed and that there would be no further action. But it was a scary thing to happen and took me a while to get over. I really don't like driving near schools now. So my point is that the circumstances had you hit this pedestrian (if it happened) would be considered as to whether a driving offence had been caused. In the UK jaywalking is not an offence. But without dashcam its one word against another.

My best advice is to get a dashcam - they are not expensive and could be essential when incidents happen to prove you were driving with care and attention - in life accidents happen - no matter how carefully you drive

You don't have any right to just step out into traffic and force vehicles to slam brakes on! There's no law that gives you right! Jesus Christ! I hope you don't have kids if you think like that!

Right?! And I know someone said to beep your horn but there are some real crazies out there. I’ve had my car punched when I did that when someone had their nose in their phone and walked in front just as lights changed to green. It’s just a case of being constantly cautious as these ‘zombie’ pedestrians as I call them can appear out of nowhere at anytime!

I do think pedestrians need to pay attention to their surroundings as well and not have their head in their phones.

Well exactly. The laws of physics don’t care about the “rights of pedestrians”. If you step in front of a vehicle it takes a distance to stop!

Of course I’m not suggesting people should be able to freely step into traffic, that’s ridiculous. The question was why is the responsibility on the driver. All I am saying with my response is that as drivers we need to be aware of what is going on around us. Why else do you think that there’s a hazard perception section of the driving test? Of course pedestrians need to take care when crossing but drivers need to be more aware.

My partner and I have been in situations crossing a junction and because a car has stopped for us it put us in danger because cars coming in behind just see a stopped car and overtake and nearly hit us! That law assumes the cars behind can see what is happening and dint think they are overtaking a parked car!!

Already replied to this twice. RTFT.

You think I didn't know what my Hazard perception test was for! But drivers can't monitor everything around them because the roads are just so hazardous since COVID, more people are speeding, too many people pull out of junctions without looking, you have to have eyes in your back of your head on roads now. When the dark nights come it gets worse because councils like my local council have gone for streetlamps that give out just your tiniest bit of light. You've got a lot of parents now that let their kids go to and from school in the winter on a black bike, black clothing and no bike lights. There's that many hazards now.

Yea I wouldn’t beep my horn at anyone. Too many crazies on my commute. I left my window down once waiting at some lights in the middle of town and a pedestrian leaned in a called me a stupid bitch.

Have you considered public transport?

What public transport! You think there's buses that go everywhere I need to go and when I need to go! Public transport is dire. And I'm not sure if you are somehow insulting me. It's not just me, I've spoke to plenty of other people that say they've seen driving standards drop since covid! Why am I the problem, why is it me that shouldn't be on the road. Yeh let's tell all the conscientious drivers to get off the road and let tie reckless bastards carry on!

Fault doesn’t really matter, the totality of the claim would’ve come off your insurance.

I had a middle aged woman run across the road in front of me 2 weeks ago. There was a crossing less than 10 metres away. Not looking at phone, just being reckless. It did make me think I need to get a dash cam.

Yeah you need a dashcam OP. The ones that go over your interior mirror are excellent. Plus you get a bigger mirror.

I had a conversation with someone once who said when she gets very depressed she walks out suddenly into traffic in the hope she gets hit.

Always stuck in my head. Usually it's absent-minded get your nose out of your phone shit but you never know I think.

“I thought the law had fairly recently changed so that pedestrians have right of way if they are waiting to cross a road?”

well that would cause havoc wouldn’t it?! What would be the point of traffic lights/ zebra crossings if this was the case. It’s if you’re turning off the main road into a side road.

You could clearly see her waiting

No, that’s not right. The woman never looked up and was glued to her phone the whole time. It’s a fundamental characteristic of someone waiting to cross a road that they look. They might not always look very well, but they look in the general direction of the road and the traffic. I’m guessing that’s what you do with your kids.

Like the OP, if someone is stood on the pavement looking at their phone, I’m getting no clue from them that they want to cross. I might wonder, I might hesitate a little as she did, perhaps a bit wary because they are close to the road, but actually stopping on the basis of that information and no more would be totally unreasonable and dangerous. If the very next thing that happens is they step out, that’s not on the driver.

It’s because OP was driving carefully that no injury or worse was caused. She deserves sympathy, not criticism. I think your lack of driving experience is showing here in the way you have failed to see this from her point of view.

The amount of people on this thread so adamant and confident in what they are saying but have actually completely misunderstood the change to the Highway Code is scary - literally accidents waiting to happen. As for the pedestrian who said they aren’t familiar with the Highway Code because they don’t drive… well the HC is for ALL road users, which includes cyclists and pedestrians. So you bloody well should familiarise yourself with it.

Yes, the HC was changed to grant pedestrians more rights of way than before. It used to be if a car was turning into a side road, and there was a pedestrian in the road already, the car had to give way. Now it is if a pedestrian is waiting to cross the car is supposed to stop and give way. But it should be noted this only applies to roads when a car is turning off a different road onto it. On a road where a vehicle is just going straight on/staying on that road, the CAR has priority. A pedestrian is supposed to either look for a proper crossing or a break in the traffic in which they can safely cross (without causing the cars to swerve or hit their brakes).

Obviously if a pedestrian does step out, a driver must do what they can to avoid hitting that person. But it doesn’t mean that pedestrian suddenly has priority - what the pedestrian should do is assess if it is safer to step back onto the pavement rather than continue for example.

OP well done on avoiding hitting her. I drive like that too - if I see someone a bit close to the edge of the path when walking along (especially if it’s kids) I get as close to the middle of the road as I can do and slow down just in case someone stumbles or steps into the road. My STBXH continues at full speed and I swear he gets closer to the path in fact but he’s an absolute cunt and I’ve often wondered if he’s actually hoping he can hurt someone. If I say to watch out he will yell at me not to tell him what to do, make backseat driver comments at me and belligerently speed up or move closer. I hate the fact that legally, as long as he isn’t speeding, it would technically not be his fault if he hit someone when I know he could be more cautious. You know you weren’t driving like that, so you should use that knowledge to calm your brain.