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Original poster

do you still cross with the green man when u r are your own?!

28 replies

cutekids · 17/01/2006 12:44

yesterday, on the way to pick up my kids from school, i was waiting at a pedestrian crossing for the "green man" to flash. i know it's probably very childish of me and some of my mates find it hilarious but i think it's up to me if i don't want to get killed! what really p*ed me off was that a driver decided to "beep" me before the bleep started. How stupid and impatient....it's not like he/she could have got across any quicker.They would have still had to wait. I was very close to giving a rather nice gesture but thought better of it just in case it was one of the parents I was going to bump into the playground! am i pathetic?

OP posts:
stinkweasel · 17/01/2006 12:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

sharklet · 17/01/2006 12:48

I do try to do this more thesed days (now I have a child) to set a good example. I used to be awful and run out whenever I thought I'd make it - resulting in a few near misses.

Funnily enough you said about the driver beeping you (really rude I agree) and that he woudln't get away any faster. It does depend on what kind of crossing it is (she says with learing to drive so have had to swallow the highway code hat on) on some crossings once the pedestrian has crossed you can move off on a flashing amber as long as they are out of your path. Scary but true.

Sounds to me like it was an impatient t* though!

LadySherlockofLGJ · 17/01/2006 12:49

Since I had DS, I will only cross on the green man that way I am unlikely to forget when I am with him.

Kelly1978 · 17/01/2006 12:49

lol, nope. Prob shud do, but got into bad habits in London. There, even when the green man does go, there usually something blocking it!

harpsichordcarrier · 17/01/2006 12:49

I hate waiting for the green man
I hate having to do it when dd1 is there
am inveterate jay walker
only been run over once

coppertop · 17/01/2006 12:50

I always wait for the green man too. I think it's out of habit as much as anything else. I certainly don't think it's childish to not want to get run over!

Original poster
cutekids · 17/01/2006 12:50

Well exactly Stinkweasel. One thing I hate is when adults push and shove to cross the road before they're meant to when my kids are with me. Although, when my youngest was about 3, she told an old lady off for doing just that! The woman smiled at her and said "i'm very naughty aren't I?", and then told her never to do it herself which was fair enough.

OP posts:
Original poster
cutekids · 17/01/2006 12:55

I actually didn't know that Sharklet-not a driver as you 've probably guessed. Thing is, surely that's dangerousespecially for kids?
The crossing i'm talking about is actually a sort of crossroads-don't know driver's term!-on a very busy coast road.

OP posts:
Bugsy2 · 17/01/2006 13:14

Definite no here. I am always weaving through the traffic to cross the road. Given that traffic is pretty much stationary in London it is not very dangerous though!
I find it very hard to wait for the green man when I'm with my children and never bothered when they were babies and in the buggy as I figured they were too young to be picking up bad habits. Very bad mummy!!!

Skribble · 17/01/2006 22:08

You know you are a mummy when you do this, especially when you absentmindedly try to hold strangers hands too..

WideWebWitch · 17/01/2006 22:11

I alternate, sometimes I look at the lights from the drivers perspective to see if it's safe (or look at the traffic!) and cross, or sometimes I drift off into a daydream and only cross when the green man's there.

MarsOnLife · 17/01/2006 22:12

No, unless I see a parent with a small child and the parent is teaching them to only cross when there's a green man.

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 17/01/2006 22:14

no one else use the green person? have to confess I do, unless someone can hear then I'm too embarrassed

expatinscotland · 17/01/2006 22:16

No, I jaywalk like no one's biz.

Skribble · 17/01/2006 22:17

It is right when the amber light for drivers flash you can move off if the crossing is clear, similarly you should not start to cross if the green man is flashing.

I teach my children never to trust the green man as many drivers miss the lights and crive right through, it has happened in front of my kids so they know.

Do you know that if you are crossing a side road you have priority over cars turning into that road. So when driving you should let pedestrians finish crossing any roads you turn into. Not often seen in practice.

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 17/01/2006 22:29

"not often seen in practice" no I tend to mow them down. I think it is seen in practice, just possibly a bit reluctantly and lacking appropriate grace

motherinferior · 17/01/2006 22:30

Actually it's not since having children it's since passing my test.

Skribble · 17/01/2006 22:42

I don't mean people getting mowed down all the time I mean they come flying round the corner and expect you to run off the road. Seeing it from the drivers side too, I pull round slowing down or stopping to let them cross and many still run madly off the road.

soapbox · 17/01/2006 22:46

God no!

I take my life in my hands every day crossing the road outside work, because I can't be arsed walking 100yrds to a crossing. I've learnt to look out for the motorbikes cruising along the middle of the road before stepping out!

Silly really, but its the closest to dangerous living I get these days!

thewomanwhothoughtshewasahat · 17/01/2006 23:33

I'm just feeling guilty now cos of the number of times people wonder aimlessly across the end of my road - where it meets with the busy main road and where, as a car turning in, you;d get beeped and sworn at by the drivers on the main road if you waited for people to cross. So I give the aimless pedestrians dirty looks (more out of concern for their safety you understand). I don't tend to mow them down though.

Skribble · 17/01/2006 23:38

How kind of you

Meanoldmummy · 18/01/2006 00:19

I never am on my own....but I occasionally sneak across without the green man if I think the kids are asleep...but ds1 will pipe up priggishly "naughty mummy" if he catches me!

HRHQueenOfQuelNoel · 18/01/2006 00:28

I always wait for the green man, habit from when I was younger. And I once had a very near miss with a car in Edinburgh, crossing over from school to Haymarket station with a friend. She jay-walked across, and then I went to follow, got to the middle no problems, looked to my left to check for traffic, didn't see any and started to cross. Next thing I know I'm leaning across the front of a silver car - it had been raining, and because of the way the sun was shinig on the road I couldn't see the car. Thankfully I was ok (got a bruise on my thigh) and the driver was very sweet about it.......always walked up to the crossing after that.

sparklymieow · 18/01/2006 00:31

I always wait for the green man, a young boy was killed round here, when he used the crossing properably and a woman just drove through the red light and hit him

Meanoldmummy · 18/01/2006 00:33

I've noticed a shocking number of cars driving through pedestrian crossings when the green man is showing, just completely oblivious. It makes me madder than mad...just DOES NOT COMPUTE, how can anyone be so stupid and irresponsible?!?!? I always shout something really rude at them. ds1 has started doing it too