Car Drivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Huge posted:

Well, whilst being a pedestrian, I've just been hit again.  That makes 3 times in the last year, fortunately nothing serious.

Once whilst walking on the pavement, I was hit by a car wing mirror.  This driver stopped to see if I was OK (just a minor bruise - no problem) and it was a genuine and simple slight misjudgement on his part, it was also possible that a car coming the other way may have pulled out too far causing him to react reflexively.  So a genuine accident and these things happen,

The other two were at roundabouts where vehicles have turned into me whilst I've been crossing at the junction.  Both these drivers blamed me when, in fact,they were in contravention of rules 170 and 187 of the highway code.  One even got out and threatened me, accusing me of criminal damage to his vehicle; he only backed off after he threatened to call the police and I responded "yes please do"!

B****y car drivers.

On yer bike, Huge!

Bloody pedestrians should be taxed for using the pavements and crossing the road.

If it weren't for us pedestrians, all you cyclists and car drivers wouldn't have any roads - we pedestrians invented them!

Going at such a speed in a metal coffin is not godly natural.. imo.

Then don't live in a house with a metal frame, or even sit in a stationary car.  It's travelling at about 700mph round the axis of the earth, and about 514,000mph round the centre of the galaxy, and (if you believe in one) then God must have ordained such speeds!

Third time lucky for Huge.

Fortunately none of the drivers was Joe Black.

I find car drivers to be the worst - after cyclists of course. I bet most European town centres - where possible and practical, will be closed for motor vehicles due to concerns about congestion, polluting, and terror.

Then there will be threads about cyclists as usual but also pedestrians...

Keep death off the roads.

Drive on the pavement.

Well, I am a pedestrian, dog walker, cyclist and car driver. Which version of me should I hate the most? Society does seem generally to becoming more inconsiderate and less tolerant. I do not think it's the mode of transport that is the issue here....

Stu 

Stu,

Absolutely, what I object to most is those car drivers who sit oblivious in their metal box, and who, when they hit an unprotected pedestrian because their own bad driving (i.e. contravening the driving laws), blame the pedestrian.

Their rationale seems to be: We're protected by a metal box and we won't get hurt if we hit a pedestrian, so we don't need to pay any attention to pedestrians (or the driving laws applying to pedestrians)...

Therefore it can't be our fault, so the pedestrian must be trying to attack us, so we need to defend ourselves aggressively.

Huge posted:

Well, whilst being a pedestrian, I've just been hit again.  That makes 3 times in the last year, fortunately nothing serious.

Once whilst walking on the pavement, I was hit by a car wing mirror.  This driver stopped to see if I was OK (just a minor bruise - no problem) and it was a genuine and simple slight misjudgement on his part - so a genuine accident and these things happen.

 

On a lazy Sunday morning many years ago i was stood on a pavement in a small village, nearby an historical building with a genuine old double pillar and porch over-slab which jutted out about a yard or so distance into the roadway path, being a listed building the council were disagreeable about requests for it's removal so the historical porch was left in all it's rustic splendour to encroach into the roadway by a few feet which caused a pinch-point where vehicles passing in both direction would get a bit too close for comfort. Usually one vehicle from one direction would give way to other, but on this occasion i witnessed two cars coming from opposite direction and both at least traveling the legal 30 mph speed limit with no attempt to slow or stop, and pass each other with not quite enough inches to spare - both their driver-side door mirrors impacted together with a very loud BANG. After the impact, both cars continued their journey without even slowing or stopping. I saw one 'detached' door mirror assembly projected around 30 feet high into the air, by the time it came back down to earth with a clatter on the road tarmac both cars had long gone, didn't see what happened to the other mirror, probably still floating around in Earth orbit to this day...

Debs

Part of the problem in my country is that if you are cycling in the road you are to be considered as a vehicle and follow the same laws as a motor vehicle. On the pavement a cyclist is supposed to give way to pedestrians. It becomes problematic when riding a bicycle on the zebra crossing. Yes, you are allowed to do so, but you are then considered as a vehicle. To avoid that one has to step off the bicycle and walk over with the bicycle. When do you ever see that happening? So instead they charge forward at full speed.. People/cyclists just don't know the rules and it creates all sorts of problems.

stuart.ashen posted:

Well, I am a pedestrian, dog walker, cyclist and car driver. Which version of me should I hate the most? Society does seem generally to becoming more inconsiderate and less tolerant. I do not think it's the mode of transport that is the issue here....

Stu 

My observations do not support your general societal trends regarding levels of tolerance and consideration.

It's not the mode of transport itself, but the mixing of those modes that is the issue. The people practicing each mode are often the same people, as you say. However, one of the modes is vastly different in that it has an overwhelming propensity to kill and maim at a level that would be completely unacceptable for any other form of transport. Those choosing that mode of transport must bear the vast majority of the responsibility and accountability.

Huge posted:

Well, whilst being a pedestrian, I've just been hit again.  That makes 3 times in the last year

I'd call you fortunate to still be typing here and say you need to hone-up your pedestrian habits.

Mr Fjeld posted:

Part of the problem in my country is that if you are cycling in the road you are to be considered as a vehicle and follow the same laws as a motor vehicle. On the pavement a cyclist is supposed to give way to pedestrians. It becomes problematic when riding a bicycle on the zebra crossing. Yes, you are allowed to do so, but you are then considered as a vehicle. To avoid that one has to step off the bicycle and walk over with the bicycle. When do you ever see that happening? So instead they charge forward at full speed.. People/cyclists just don't know the rules and it creates all sorts of problems.

In Britain the general rules of the road are mostly the same for bikes and cars, like stopping at red lights, giving way at junctions so marked, requirement for rear reflector, and front and rear lights at night, indicating to infirm others of your intention when about to turn, giving way to pedestrians on zebra crossings, not causing an obstruction,  overtaking on the outside except if it is a queue of traffic when you may do so on the inside lane. And cycling on footpaths is generally against the law, except where expressly permitted (which will be signed). A zebra crossing in my understanding is pedestrian only, and actually in my personal experience in Britain, cyclists mainly wheel their bikes, but behaviour may well depend on where the zebra is located - if positioned as part of a cycle path I can envisage it being used differently - but that is bad design, unfortunately not uncommon when cycle paths are designed by motorists rather than cyclists.

But none of this relates to motorists hitting pedestrians, or cyclists for that matter. I actually believe that by far the vast majority of motorists would prefer not to be in collision with a pedestrian, or indeed anything else. Sadly, however, not all are as skilled as they lime to think they are, and misjudging distances, or driving at a speed that makes it impossible to stop in the available space, for example, are very common failures. Interestingly, a few years ago there was a survey of drivers that found that tbe vast majority -by a very large margin- believed tbat tgeir driving was better than average...

joerand posted:

Huge posted:

Well, whilst being a pedestrian, I've just been hit again.  That makes 3 times in the last year

I'd call you fortunate to still be typing here and say you need to hone-up your pedestrian habits.

Do you mean I should not be walking on the footpath beside a road (yes, twice I've been hit whilst still on the footpath) or that I should avoid crossing roads at all, even where the Highway Code recommends that I should cross a road?

As a pedestrian I usually can't run fast enough to outpace a car.  The car driver needs to be prepared to avoid pedestrians where and when they have the right of way; rather than continuing to turn into them expecting them to magically disappear out of their way.

There seems to be some lack of understanding in some situations.  A few years ago I was teaching at Exeter College, and was walking towards one of the college buildings.  Just before the building was a side road going down to the carpark and a couple of other buildings.  Walking towards me was one of my students.  She was engrossed with her phone.  On the road from behind me came a boke on a bike, and (without any indication) turned into the side road, narrowly missing the young lady as she was crossing that side road (maintaining the direction she had been on while on the pavement).  I followed the cyclist and caught up with him and asked him whether he realised how close he had come to hitting the girl.  His response was that she wasn't paying attention and if he had hit her it would have been her fault.  He showed no concern whatsoever, and felt he was in the right.  As I pointed out to him, according to the highway code he was in the wrong - he was crossing traffic (the pedestrians on the pavement)  and should give way.  He was having none of it.  Also, it doesn't matter really who is in the right or the wrong - avoiding hitting people is good practice.  Very poor attitude I thought.  

The question is, "Would he have done the same if it was a car coming the other way?".  The answer is no because he'd have been the one who got hurt.

Yes, very poor and selfish attitude, just as I've experienced from car drivers who expected me to magically jump out of their way.  They just couldn't care at all as they'd only be hurting the pedestrian whilst they were well protected by their lethal metal boxes.

joerand posted:

Huge posted:

Well, whilst being a pedestrian, I've just been hit again.  That makes 3 times in the last year

I'd call you fortunate to still be typing here and say you need to hone-up your pedestrian habits.

Huge at least needs to hone up on his luck. Being struck 3 times in one year must be an extreme statistical outlier.

The vast majority of people aren't struck by cars. In 2015 in the US, 5,376 pedestrians were killed and another 129,000 were treated for car-related injuries. Let's assume 4 times that number were struck but weren't injured enough to need treatment. So call it ~600,000 motorists assaulting pedestrians in a year, in a population of ~300 million. Assume 80% of Americans walk (this estimate may be wildly high, admittedly). This means 0.25% of US pedestrians were struck by motorists in 2015. In other words the average pedestrian had a 1 in 400 chance of being struck in that year. The chance of being struck 3 times in that one year was therefore 1 in 64 million. Huge is seriously unlucky.

Interestingly, for someone who is a pedestrian for, say, 80 years has a 1 in 5 chance of being struck during their lifetime. Wow. Just wow.