To treat certain pedestrians in this way?

[BosomForAPillow]

You know when a pedestrian crosses in front of your car when they really don't have much time to do so (because you're driving towards that bit of road!), but instead of hurrying across, they strut/meander as if they have all the time in the world? I'm talking about teenagers usually, who seem to me to be doing this with "attitude" and just expect me to slow down/stop until they've ambled across.

Well, I've started spraying them with my windscreen wash.
AIBU?

What a great world we live in, where one person inside a great hulking (deadly) bit of machinery can bully and scare a few, actually rather helpless and very vulnerable other people because they're showing some 'attitude'; and then that one person inside the great hulking (deadly) machine gets on a forum and tells as many people as she can about it, because she thinks it's a laugh. You're too immature to hold a licence.

No wonder teens don't have much respect.

i def think pedestrians are not all innocent, point to prove

• Have had large sticks thrown at my windscreen when driving along by teenagers

• Have had teenagers fake falling into the road as i have driven past, scream then laugh there heads off as i emergency stop, and have a heart attack

• Have had little kids run out into the road and then flip me the finger when i glared at them

• Drunk people walk into the road and out of the road and back into the road when driving past

So think of us poor drivers

Last week we were coming along a fast road (dual carriageway), it was raining pretty hard and a familly (mum,dad and two young kids) were waiting to cross, there was no crossing by the way.
The dad just walked straight out in front of us and actually walked even slower whilst glaring at us.
Pretty stupid of him as a) he was on a dual carriageway and b)there was a no pedestrians sign up.
But his wife was no impressed and she was giving him a right telling off as we went past.

Oh dear I am really shocked by this.

I have always had dodgy legs and can't run.

I had an incident when I was about 20 when an RAC van deliberately drove into me (at low speed) because they didn't like the way I was walking along the pavement.

I have always thought that people who like to scare pedestrians were in the minority, I reallt didn;t expect to see this on MN.

All of you deliberately driving at pedestrians to give them a scare, what if they don't reaise you are doing it, or something gives them a fright or something? People give me very little room when crossing with DD., when she was just over one and we were crossing someone thought we were going to slow and accelerated hard and missed her by literally an inch, she dropped her bear and paused to pick it up they nearly ran over her head.

I really thought that this would be the sort of driving behaviour that would be unacceptable to MN/parents/normal people, I stand corrected.

I have seen a lot of threads advocating running cyclists over as well recently.

Jux, "No wonder teens don't have much respect."

You're kidding, right?

I drive, I walk to and from work every day(4 miles), I've been hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing at 30mph, but I can still see where you're coming from, I witness 3 or 4 kids regularly walking out into the traffic in "defiant " mode and basically daring oncoming cars. It makes me wild as I see it from all sides. I'm sure, you know, "so sue me" society.

Ripeberry

My guess is

It was pissing with rain

They had been standing there for ages waiting and hoping someone would be kind ebough to stop and let the family with children cross in the pissing rain, when they are in their nice warm cars.

None had, they were standing there getting soaked and splashed and all the people in cars were sort of staring at them from their nice dry cars.

And the dad had had enough and crossed.
Lucky for him you were kind enough to stop.

"Daring" oncoming cars?

To do what?

To run them over?

Tin of Spam, but the thing was they were on a dangerous section of road where pedestrians are banned.
I always think, its better to be wet waiting to cross safely, than get run over and be in pain and getting even wetter when you've been run over!

I'm not talking about a crossing - pedestrians can crawl across them and I'd wait patiently - I'm talking about a person walking out dangerously, meaning I have to slam on brakes. Usually they could just wait 5 seconds and it would be safe for them to cross without any danger to me or themselves.

I know exactly the kind of person the OP is talking about. And it's not someone who genuinely needs some patience fgs. It's the cocky sod who smiles at you as they saunter in front of the car.

What drives me mad is those people who wander into the middle of the busy road just as you're driving past at 30 miles an hour. They think they're being clever, weaving between the traffic, but you have absolutely no idea if they're going to stop or step out in front of you. I find this quite scary. And yes, next time I'll think about using the windscreen wash as a minor retribution.

Ripeberry when it is snowing, or raining hard, and you have been waiting to cross for 10/15 or more minutes, there comes a point where you have to just cross the road.

I waited to cross a road for 20 mins heavily pregnant with a baby in a buggy, when that big snow happened earlier in the year. All the people in their cars driving past and peering at us with the snow coming down. No-one stopped. Not one single person.

It was one of the experiences in my life which taught me that people in cars go into some changed - non society mode - when they become unrelated to the things they see going on around them and behave very badly.

If you were walking down the street and a teenager was dawdling in front of you, would you pull out a gun and threaten them with it?

That is the same as driving your car very close to them.

And I hope you are utterly confident of your driving skills, a slippy patch on the road and you will be driving very close right through them.

Yes MaryMotherOfCheeses, saunter is the word. I agree that it is scary for the driver, despite being in "the great hulking (deadly) machine".

Ponders, no I wasn't. Have you misunderstood me? I'm disgusted by the attitude shown by the OP and all those agreeing with her.

A car is a potentially deadly machine and yet here are apparently adult people - many, if not all, with children - who get pissed off because a few, very vulnerable, human beings, occasionally, don't get out of the way of their way quickly enough. How important do these drivers think they are?

Oh I can't be bothered. I'm utterly disgusted.

If it was very snowy, perhaps the drivers were concentrating really hard on the road?

I can't excuse the RAC driver you mentioned, that's ju8st weird. But really, the OP is not talking about people with familes or disabilities who need some patience.

There are people, mostly teenagers, who do almost dare you to run them over. Astonishing at that sounds.

Apologies for sweeping generalisation against teenagers, but it can be a real problem.

LovelyTinOfSpam I don't think this could be likened to pulling out a gun! A water pistol perhaps...

Jux, it's not a question of them "not getting out of the way quickly enough" - it's about them deliberately strolling, as slowly as possible, in front of an oncoming car.

Very vulnerable? In what sense?

Gosh yes bosom that is a good point.

I agree "it is scary for the driver" lest the hulking great teen should damamge their lovely paintwork.

Jux, I have every sympathy for someone who is clearly struggling for whatever reason. Believe me. I am very aware that I am driving a potentially lethal weapon down the street.

And that's exactly why it makes me so cross when someone saunters across the street, looking towards you, no intention of hurrying, cocky. Honestly, we're not talking about the same thing here.

Oh fgs, have you seen my car? Do I care about paintwork.

No I realise you haven't seen my car, but really, stop being so sensitive! I'm regularly challenged by annoying, yes usually teenagers, to slow down, let them past, the world owes them a living.

Maybe we live in very different areas but it's a real problem where I am. And I do get scared cos I think I'm going to hit them!

LovelyTinOfSpam, it's not scary in case they damage the paintwork, it's scary because I don't want to run into somebody!

Mary is right, we're not talking about the same kind of pedestrian here.

x-post Mary

bosom driving a car very close to someone is exactly the same as threatening someone with any other kind of deadly weapon.

"Very vulnerable" - is how a pedestrain is compared to a car.

Getting out the way quick enough. Well that is a matter of how fast the pedestrian can move and how long the driver thiks they should take. These 2 times are not always in sync.

FWIW I was a stroppy teenager who probably swaggered. Aren't most teenagers like that? I don't see that as a dare to run them over - it's how teenagers are with everything and everybody. Driving at them to scare the shit out of them (make them run?) is just not on.

Anyway I was unable to run as a teen, and swaggered, and if someone had tried to make me run, I would have simply been driven into.

This thread is such fun.