Am i….going mad? Pedestrian crossing content

Walking home just now with a brolly in hand (not up though as it had stopped spitting).

Anyway, I was crossing at a zebra crossing, I’d stopped and looked, and there was a car coming, but a fair way off. I start to cross and they carried on, close enough to clip the umbrella handle about 35cm in front of me 😬

They then stopped and had a go at me for ‘hitting’ their car with my umbrella!?!

I used a few choice words, and offered to call the police for them, at which point they drove off. **** idiot!

Almost guaranteed they were on their phone I suppose. I really do despair sometimes.

had one do the same a couple of weeks ago. Was walking the dog with the girlfriend and we came to a zebra crossing, looked both ways and there’s a van slowly approaching at about 10mph I guess. He’s clearly looking down at his phone trying to text or look at something, He didn’t even look up, see us or notice that he’d just driven straight over a crossing. Unbelievable to watch really.

If I thought the Police would do anything, I’d say ‘Report’, but as they won’t, all you can do is put it down as another interaction with one of this planets A-holes.

Wasn’t there an advert that recommended a supply of bricks in a basket either side of crossings. Carry the brick as you cross, car does not stop and they loose their rear window. Would make drivers pay more attention!

Had one similar. It was actually a light controlled crossing and the driver sailed straight through the red. Not going especially quick and I could see she was texting. She got about 20m further up the road and got stuck in traffic so I banged on the window and suggested she stopped texting. Looked very surprised.

Some people seem to do anything but focus on driving. At least they are now doing it at 20 rather than 30

But if the brolly was clipped, you must have only just started to cross which means the car was quite close surely (and obviously you should ensure it’s safe to cross before stepping out).

I’m not trying to justify the driver’s actions, but both parties do have a responsibility in this scenario.

no it is quite common. i had the council install one at great expense close to our house. i can see it from my boys room. i use it most days, sometimes multiple times

cars regularly do not stop, you cannot trust them to have seen you or care at all. in fact i relatively regularly have drivers, usually white vans, beeping their horn to point out that they have seem me and are not intending on giving way at all

its a bloody liability, im surprised someone hasnt been hurt yet

both parties do have a responsibility in this scenario

I’m fairly sure that’s not quite how the HC puts it.

I stopped at a crossing on my bike and was driven into from the rear. I had my Trace r on pulse, which I couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed.
I accused the driver of being on the phone which made him quite aggressive towards me and the young Mum who had been waiting to cross.
I went straight to the Police station with a photo of the driver with reg plate and full contact details for my witness and it was the last I heard of it. Absolutely unbelievable!!

But if the brolly was clipped, you must have only just started to cross which means the car was quite close surely (and obviously you should ensure it’s safe to cross before stepping out).

I’m not trying to justify the driver’s actions, but both parties do have a responsibility in this scenario.

Fairly wide, one way road, and I was about 1/3 of the way across.

I’d say the car was 20m off when I started crossing – which is only about 2 or 3 seconds at 20mph.

Yes, maybe I should have waited, but you kind of assume that people will stop!

“Yes, maybe I should have waited, but you kind of assume that people will stop!”

I generally assume that most people in cars are trying to kill me, unless they present very strong evidence to the contrary.

Have to admit if there’s cars coming from either direction at a crossing I wait at the side untill they are slowing down/stopping as I don’t trust them to actually notice when I’m on my way over.

Yep we have a Zebra crossing on the route to our kids school.  Mostly drivers are good but we have had the nearest side stop for us,  we head across and a we get to the middle nearly get wiped out by a car coming the other way that doesn’t stop.  Had it when pushing youngest in a large Pram a couple of times.  Even had a car stop and a car from behind it come past nearly hitting us,  the stopped car and the car stopped in the other direction.

gimlets everywhere!! a zebra crossing has recently (6months ago) been installed outside my kids school and the amount of people who dont stop or are super aggressive is crazy so we always step out extra cautiously

I’m fairly sure that’s not quite how the HC puts it.

The HC says to give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross.

assume

Makes an ass of u and me.

It’s easiest to assume most drivers are ****. Eye contact is important, imo.

There’s a thing in Germany about crossing against a red man at pedestrian crossings. There are often signs on the lamppost saying “nur bei grün, den Kindern ein Vorbild”, which kinda means “be an example to the kids when it’s green. I used to get tutted at by old ladies when I crossed despite they’re being no cars in sight.

Friends of ours were in Hamburg last year with other friends of theirs. Pedestrian light goes green, five year old runs across the road and gets hit by a Mercedes.

Dead.

Currently in Italy…. Only once your foot is on the tarmac so people stop….. And that’s one handed whilst a phone is held to their ear. Impressive and shocking in equal measure.

When I lived in Gothenburg it took me quite a while to understand that drivers were purposely approaching slowly to give me time to cross without stopping – it was quite the culture shock given my assumption was they hadn’t seen me and had no intention of letting me cross a la UK

It’s easiest to assume most drivers are ****. Eye contact is important, imo.

Eye contact doesn’t mean shit, it just gives you a false sense of security.  I learned that one the hard way.  A lorry driver entering a roundabout looked me square in the eyes, I thought “it’s OK, he’s seen me.”  Pulled straight out in front of me, I left two sets of skid marks that morning.

In France if there isn’t a pedestrian crossing within 50m you have priority over cars to cross the road just by indicating your intention to do so. Raise your hand and stride out.  As many people don’t seem to know this rule I don’t suggest trying it unless you’re good at spinning round and retreating.

Sure there are national variations but they are less marked than local ones IME. In Berlin you’re unlikely to get told off for crossing bei Rot but in the south they’ll get upset. Crossing in Pau is relatively safe but not in Tarbes only 45km away.

I disagree with the eye contact thing on zebras, they’re more likely to stop if you’re looking the other way and show no signs of hesitating.

When drivers do slow down when they see me I jog across and give them a wave which means they get a reward (not having to stop) for courtesy.

Yeah refusal to make eye contact works just as well. Half the time you can’t even see the driver due to reflections on the windscreen anyway.

I feel like Alan Davies posting this image, just before the QI Klaxxon goes off.

When I was last in Italy, I genuinely didn’t know what the rules were regarding pedestrian crossing and, on one occasion, when I needed to cross a busy road and there were no locals about to follow their example, I was somewhat “stuck”. Anyway, I was stood there for what felt like a few minutes waiting for a non-existent gap in the traffic before I risked stepping on the crossing. No one stopped for me.

Even when I DID step on the crossing, traffic didn’t stop. So I cautiously edged out into the road expecting, maybe, the traffic would finally stop. Not a chance.

Eventually, I noticed a bus was slowing down and so a gap in the traffic opened up, so I walked a little further out into the road, thinking that a ‘professional’ driver would actually follow the law. NOPE – he drove straight across the crossing even though I was now 3/4 of the way across and about two feet from being hit…

So, if anyone knows what the law/convention is for crossing roads in Italy (at marked pedestrian crossings!), please let me know….

Wait for a nun to cross the road and follow in her wake as the traffic screeches to a stop

There’s a Zebra crossing at the top of my road, on what used to be a main trunk route, the A350. It’s now just a ‘B’ road, but a major road connecting the A4 and the A420, with something like 13 minor urban roads branching off and a couple of schools close by.

I cross it more often now because the Bath bus stop is nearby, and I’m very careful about crossing the road – if vehicles are approaching from either or both directions, I’ll stand and wait for them to clearly show they’re stopping, because a number of times one vehicle has slowed right down and another from the other direction has driven straight past just as I’m about to step out onto the road; it happened the last time I went to catch the bus.

It’s usually vans but quite often cars. 🤷🏼

Maybe I should take to carrying one of my walking sticks, they’ve got tungsten carbide spikes in the ends for grip… 😏

There was a story a bit back of a lollipop lady who would use her sign to bash cars that didnt stop as the kids started to cross.

Compared to other European countries we are very much a car culture where it’s assumed that the car has priority, irrespective of crossings or HC or vulnerability levels of other road users. I think people genuinely feel that the car should be allowed to go unimcombered by default.

Which is totally at odds with the rest of the fairly considerate aspect of the culture compared to those other countries.

I never really got my head around that one since I moved here. Ignoring a pedestrian crossing in France is socially unacceptable whereas it seems par for the course here. Anything else is pretty much the other way round however 😂

You’re not mad. Crossings should be approached with an expectation of stopping. We have one in our village where traffic backs up four times an hour thanks to level crossings.

I reported this. We really need cameras and automated fines. Someone was hit when crossing in a similar situation. Looking right and run over by a car on the wrong side of the road. There are no keep right indicators because you MUST NOT cross the zig-zag lines at a crossing.

We really need cameras and automated fines

I think the issue there is that councils aren’t allowed to keep the fines from enforcement, but have to pay the costs of it (as a result of previous Ending the War on Motorists bollocks). If that changes we might get better enforcement.

When I lived in Gothenburg it took me quite a while to understand that drivers were purposely approaching slowly to give me time to cross without stopping – it was quite the culture shock given my assumption was they hadn’t seen me and had no intention of letting me cross a la UK

And the pedestrian priority, light controlled crossings on every exit from some roundabouts.

Or even not light controlled, just crossings. Get there just after a bus has dropped off and no one in a car is going anywhere for a couple of minutes!

Takes some getting used to, but definitely worth it.

(And the bus stops are deliberately *in* the carriageway with the express intent of stopping the traffic, so a central reservation to make sure you don’t pass. Some places even go down to one lane at the bus stop, to stop traffic in both directions)

Almost guaranteed they were on their phone I suppose. I really do despair sometimes.

You crossed the road on a zebra without keeping an eye on the traffic you’d already seen coming towards you?

Let this be a ‘safe’ lesson.

There’s a traffic light pedestrian crossing near me which often has drivers run it.

It’s on the main road but by a staggered junction so traffic pulling out onto the main road is often trying to “make a dash for it” and they concentrating on other cars, not the pedestrian lights.

I stopped once (on my bike) and nearly got flattened by a car which drove straight through, narrowly missing the woman crossing as well. Driver simply hasn’t seen the lights, they’d just looked at the gap in traffic.

Compared to other European countries we are very much a car culture where it’s assumed that the car has priority, irrespective of crossings or HC or vulnerability levels of other road users. I think people genuinely feel that the car should be allowed to go unimcombered by default.

I don’t know the “how” for this, but this is what needs to change. Some people appear to have a dual personality: reasonable, decent flk in general until they get behind the wheel of a car.

But there’s the A-holes too. Couple of years ago but I still remember it clearly. 30mph residential street with traffic island in the middle to help pedestrians cross the road – quite narrow and not pleasant to stand on island with cars whizzing by with zero protection other than keep left signs (no railings, barriers etc). Kids and me waiting in middle for gap to cross remaining carriageway and I hear car approaching at speed on carriageway we’d already crossed. Close passes us doing 40mph+ blasting their horn to make us shit ourselves. Bearing in mind that’s young kids in school uniform. Total dick move.

As a biker you should know this though: yes you are absolutely in the right, and the driver is driving in an illegal way. But no, being right doesn’t prevent serious injury or worse.

Take photos, take it up with the driver; if their window’s open take their phone and throw it down the drain. But whatever you do, keep your eyes peeled at all times!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW2Uq3mOs48

*Not safe for work

Same this morning – cycling toward a pelican crossing and a young girl was waiting to cross on her way to school.  I stopped, but the car (Black MG mini SUV thing) on her side of the road (who’d had more time to react to her) just barrelled through while she was on the crossing, swerving on to my side of the road and missing her by mere CM.  I gesticulated in frustration and they beeped at me and gave me the finger as they drove away?  WTF?

I checked she was okay and carried on to work.  Driving standard really are appalling at the moment.

Seems to be a theme right now, has been since the pandemic. A lot more anger on the roads too. I’m trying to consciously rein in showing any kind of reaction to bad passes right now as it feels like there are a lot more frustrated and unhinged drivers out there.

If you think the brits have problems with pedestrian crossings try cycle lane crossings. I probably came the closest to dying on the new A27 light controlled crossing near West Firle. Just cycled off the downs was about to cross towards Glynde. It’s a fast road and so the lights are on yellow for quite awhile then on red for some time before  the little green bike comes on to give everyone plenty of time. Car coming from the left had stopped completely and there was a car and caravan coming from my right so closest lane. As they were a hundred meters away and the light had been on red for some time I kind of mentally assumed they were slowing down and was just starting to cross – the car missed me by inches, they had sped up – probably going 60 over the crossing….I still remember the look of horror and panic in the eyes of the two cyclists on the other side who were clearly paying more attention. They told me afterwards they honestly thought I was dead.

Nobody got the number

Apparently it happens a lot on that crossing – driver’s just don’t think a cycle lane crossing is a real thing and the red light is just advisory!!!!!   Absolutely unbelievable.

Crossing etiquette seems to have gone downhill the last 15-20 years, I’m convinced it’s because people have sat-navs telling them what to do that they’ve stopped actually thinking for themselves in a car.

Wasn’t there an advert that recommended a supply of bricks in a basket either side of crossings. Carry the brick as you cross, car does not stop and they loose their rear window. Would make drivers pay more attention!

That’s a real-world meme from America where some states/counters have started putting a box of red flags at crossing points of you to walk across waving.

Obviously this is stupid, hence someone form an active transport group suggested waving bricks instead would be far more effective at getting cars to stop.

i sometimes get a bit of a look from drivers who have slowed down to let me cross, but I don’t actually start to cross until they’ve slowed down even more (or actually stopped).

But I don’t care – I have been cycling and walking long enough that I try never to rely on other people not to run me over!

That’s a real-world meme from America where some states/counters have started putting a box of red flags at crossing points of you to walk across waving.

In Canada the equivalent of pelican crossings have signs highlighting that you’re supposed to walk across the road with your arm and finger outstretched in front of you. Could never work out why.

But even in Canada where pedestrians have always had priority – no matter how stupid or inappropriate – drivers are becoming wilder. Canadians are incredibly aggressive drivers anyway, and cyclists and pedestrian crossings are becoming fair game. It’s largely driven by (utter lack of) enforcement; if there’s no punishment for running people off the road, drivers will continue to do it