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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder why people stand with the buggy in the road.

33 replies

smurfgirl · 18/06/2009 22:42

I am beyond sick of seeing people standing on the pavement with the buggy sitting in the road as they wait to cross the road.

Obv I don't drive right by the curb but it frightens me.

People also regularly push their buggies into the road as I turn into my street. I drive very very slowly and carefully but IMO you should look before you start to cross the road, not see if its clear with your baby in their pram.

Grrrrr.

OP posts:

Thunderduck · 18/06/2009 22:45

YANBU. It makes me feel ill when people do this.

tigerdriver · 18/06/2009 22:46

This drive me bonkers, too - when they ram some poor kid in the buggy out in the road like a "challenge" to the cars. FFS find a crossing or put yourself in the road first, you dopey cows. Usually on the moby and puffing on a fag, these offenders.

FAQinglovely · 18/06/2009 22:49

well I don't know how you push your buggy........but I find the only way to push mine is with it in front of me

Original poster

smurfgirl · 18/06/2009 22:52

Yes but if you are waiting to cross a busy road do you stand with your buggy in the road and yourself on the pavement. Or do you push your buggy into a road without looking first?

OP posts:

FluffyBunnyGoneBad · 18/06/2009 22:58

I hate this aswell. I was crossing a road with ds today, we waited on the path as there was a car driving, then 2 women crossed without looking as the car headed towards them, the car was 1m away from them and had to stop so one of them could pick up 1p off the road , I was , not a good thing to teach a child when I'm trying to teach him to cross safely.

FAQinglovely · 18/06/2009 23:01

well I have frequently crossed a road on my own to find a car coming round the corner, or start crossing a road to find a car has decided it's turning.............

I don't drive and quite honestly I'm p*ssed off with the number of drivers who don't give a shit and don't bother WARNING us pedestrians that they're about to turn by INDICATING.

And no I don't put the buggy in teh road waiting to cross, and I can't say it's something I've ever reall seen anyone do either

Original poster

smurfgirl · 18/06/2009 23:03

Honestly I see it all the time and I def indicate and turn into the street very very slowly because people so often cross the road without looking.

OP posts:

ABetaDad · 18/06/2009 23:04

SO appallled by it I have walked up to people and told them not to do it.

I think the problem is people do not realise they are doing it. Looking up and down the road waiting to cross and just naturally edging forward.

GodzillasBumcheek · 18/06/2009 23:05

Yes, i hate non-indicators too. The amount of time i waste every day waiting to cross roads only to find the car wasn't actually going where the driver was implying...isn't probably very long, but it's still annoying!

And i tend to find a convenient and empty parked car to use as a shield when crossing, park buggy sideways and peer out from behind said car...i probably look stupid too.

RenderedSpeechless · 18/06/2009 23:07

Ages ago I saw a woman doing this, while smoking and talking on her mobile phone. I couldnt help but judge her decision. Still sticks vividly in my mind.

hf128219 · 18/06/2009 23:10

My goodness - you don't live in Surrey do you?

Biccy · 18/06/2009 23:10

(Side point: if somebody has just started to cross a road on foot, and you want to turn into it in your car, they have the priority - from the Highway code: "At a junction. When crossing the road, look out for traffic turning into the road, especially from behind you. If you have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road, you have priority and they should give way (see Rule 170).")

tigerdriver · 18/06/2009 23:14

rendered

I don't drive fast at all in built up areas. However, the speed limit in those areas is either 30 or more recently in some places 20. That isn't slow if you hit someone. I do think that a normally thinking person shouldn't (a) wander out on the road themselves and hope that they don't get run over but more importantly (b) shove their kids out in the road to test the waters. And unlike FAQ's experience, I see (b) all too frequently. I just don't get it at all.

FAQinglovely · 18/06/2009 23:22

"Ages ago I saw a woman doing this, while smoking and talking on her mobile phone. "

tigerdriver · 18/06/2009 23:35

Biccy - I thought pedestrians have the right of way. But it's the pedestrian buggy pusher who just rams the kid out into the road and hopes for the best that is the issue here. Whoever has the right of way, the kid in the buggy who is inches from a 4x4, hot hatch, people mover, blooming Toyota Pius,or whatever is the one who gets it first if the driver doesn't have time to react.

Biccy · 18/06/2009 23:45

I realise my point wasn't the main issue - hence putting it in brackets and labelling it 'side point'. It was really in response to something along the lines of 'I am careful when I turn into my road' written in a way which sort of implied that being careful when turning into side roads is a particularly 'nice' thing to do.

Totally agree that pushing your buggy into the road before you can see what is going on is, well, erm, wrong.

I actually used to turn my buggy round, then sort of crane round until it was safe to cross and perform a turn in the road on my way over. It is hard crossing roads with a buggy, especially when there's loads of parked cars, and especially when they're parked right up to turnings (which I also believe is contrary to the highway code, whether or not the junction has double yellows marked or not...).

tigerdriver · 18/06/2009 23:52

Have you just passed your test, Biccy? Or are you a driving instructor? You know the Highway Code very well (as of course we all do, in my case the one that was current in 1982 which gave lots of details about signals to be given by horses and traps).

Sorry, that sounds flippant, I agree with your post - just amazed by your HC knowledge

Biccy · 18/06/2009 23:57

I passed my test 17 years ago - I suspect in 10 more years I too will have forgotten the highway code...

But seriously, I'm a pedant... I actually printed off the relevant bit about how to signal at roundabouts after an argument with DP when he suddenly started indicating right when he was going straight over a roundabout, telling me this was the 'correct' thing to do.... he is now also aware of my wrote learning abilities.

tigerdriver · 19/06/2009 00:01

I thought you did have to indicate right... (perhaps that's changed too, must get a new HC and read it!)

Biccy · 19/06/2009 00:14

Here are the rules on roundabouts - it's rule 186 you want in particular... enjoy!

tigerdriver · 19/06/2009 00:21

Thanks You do realise I am going to be up all night now reading the HC and inwardly digesting it.

BTW I don't signal right when going straight on, but I thought you were supposed to. I think that's ancient lore now.

Night all. Got some reading to do.

lowenergylightbulb · 19/06/2009 06:26

When I had a buggy and to cross between parked cars the only way I could do that was by going buggy first - unless I was supposed to cross the road backwards.

And if you have a toddler in tow as well as a buggy if you cross the road backwards you are putting them at risk.

So YABU.

melmog · 19/06/2009 07:05

YABU
I see this all the time too. I've taken to picking toddler up and moving buggy sideways then peering round car. Then making a mad dash for it!
I'm only so over the top because I had to brake sharpish just after I'd had dd1 when a buggy appeared in front of me between two cars. I was so shocked. The mother was trying to look but had pushed the buggy out a bit too far. Prob wasn't aware she was even doing it. I still shudder when I think about it.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 19/06/2009 07:53

Oh yes, I've seen it many times. They stand on the kerb, with the front wheels of the pushchair on the road. I believe it is that they just don't think what they are actually doing. They genuinely aren't aware, it hasn't occurred to them. Most people don't go through life risk assessing. - I do, cos for years my job involved that and now it's part of me , but most people never do.

What gets me is the ones who do that and just up the road is a bloody pedestrian crossing I see that all the time. Instead of walking a few feet up the road, they wait for twice as long as that would have taken them, before dashing across the road I mean why? Why not walk up to the crossing, use it, walk down?? Baffles me.

sarah293 · 19/06/2009 08:01

This reply has been deleted

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