Unfriendliness and Hostility towards Pedestrians

[jedimaster91]

Responsible pedestrians/cyclists, I have no problems with. It's the ones who refuse to follow the rules of the road (yes, mister cyclist, you DO have to stop for that red light....) that really make me angry. I've lost count of the number of people I've almost hit when they darted out into traffic.

I've been on the other side too, as my college campus is located in the Downtown area. I hate drivers that think they have to run me over. And the honking at me because I'm a young female is really going to set me off one day.

[bigpedaler]

I feel for anybody who for whatever reason can't rely on vehicular transport (of any kind) and has to walk/bike anywhere. Because let's face it, even if a pedestrian/bicyclist is acting irresponsibly in terms of crossing or suddenly darting out into traffic, they have NO chance against a roughly-2 1/2 ton package of metal boring down on them. So why not give them a little leeway?

Appreciate the consideration you express here -- just a nitpick:

Bicycles ARE vehicular transport -- just not MOTORIZED!

(Speaking as a car-free-for-four-years, avid/passionate cyclist!)

[Greenday]

I'll just put it this way. Legally, pedestrians have the right of way. If I'm going to have time to stop, I'll stop so someone can cross. I live on a college campus, I know what it's like to try to cross streets.

But physically, I'm driving a vehicle that weighs over 3000+ pounds, plus me, plus whatever else is in my car. I have a great deal of momentum. You somewhere most likely between 100-200 pounds, walking much slower than my car is moving, have a great deal less momentum. Assuming it's an elastic collision, my car will kick the crap out of someone dumb enough to try to run across the street in front of my car.

Physics is fun to think about!

[Lace Neil Singer]

I can see both sides; I use my motorbike to go to work on, but walk down to the village and use buses and trains to get to town, cuz the one way system there scares me to death. O.o

For Pedestrians:

1. Idiots who rev and/or slowly creep forward at zebra crossings. It seriously creeps me out when I'm crossing and some car driver's looking like he wants to run me over.

2. Running red lights. Red = stop, moron. I should not have to leap out the way when it's a red light and therefore, I can cross the road.

3. The aforementioned one way system. It is absolutely awful; a river Styx of road that twists all around the town and is uncrossable, even at the crossing points. (see 2.) I hate it so much, I now get the bus into town every time.

Against Pedestrians:

1. The brainless idiots who not only meander accross the road as if they're walking down a country lane, but also stop in the middle of the road to have a chat. Get the hell out of the road, dammit!

2. If I hit a pedestrian who's more stupid than a five year old and does not know their green cross code; ie, to look left and right before crossing the road, then I will get hurt too as I get thrown off my motorbike to hit pavement. Yes, I can swerve around such morons, but ultimately if I hit one, I will get the blame; even tho it's their fault for being cretins who can't use their eyes for once in their pointless existance.

3. Children. When I was a child, and walking alongside a road, my mum used to clutch my hand in a vice like grip. Yet I see all the time mothers glibly chatting on their mobiles while walking next to a main road, with their kids running all over it. That's just an accident waiting to happen, and it's just a shame that the children have to suffer for their mother's stupidity when the inevitable happens and they get hit by a car.

[purplecat41877]

Where I'm from, it's the law for drivers to stop for pedestrians crossing the street. Unfortunately, some drivers don't follow that law and it really annoys me.

[BlaqueKatt]

I've actually thought of getting one of these or these to carry. though I do reflexively do the "New York Slap" if I have the walk light and a car gets impatient.

[Sylvia727]

It's not part of the official academy curriculum, but a lot of police in this area favor hitting a car as it goes by after the driver tries to run them down

I've heard this before, but I get scatter-brained when the adrenaline is released. I need to train and make this a reflex action, I suppose.

A friend of mine who lived in the same area used to carry raw eggs around with her. If someone tried to run her down, she'd slap one onto their car as she jumped aside. She also threw them at the cars of people who pulled that "honk/scream at pedestrians to make them jump" stunt. For those who are unaware of the effect of egg whites on automotive paint, it's ugly.

While I might enjoy the vindictive thought of egging an asshole's car, I greatly prefer the moral high ground. No cop would take my complaint seriously if I ever needed to file a report on the incident. I usually just give them the double barreled salute.

Still, you've given me a lovely new day dream.

[Amethyst Hunter]

I walk because I enjoy it and it's good for me...I live a mostly sedentary lifestyle

Same here. I'm naturally something of a sloth to begin with, but given where I am now, I can go walking if I want. Unfortunately, there really isn't anything to walk *to*. (Unless you count the corner convenience store, heh)

We don't have shared paths here (midwest America)

Ooooohhh! Midwesterner?? Me too!

[Difdi]

While the locals where I live tend to be polite, skilled and pleasant behind the wheel, they're outnumbered by the people who have moved here in the past 15 years from elsewhere in the country. And some of those transplants, while they may be nice people on foot, are truly horrific drivers.

It's not part of the official academy curriculum, but a lot of police in this area favor hitting a car as it goes by after the driver tries to run them down, either due to incompetence or malice. There's several reasons for this: It gets the driver's attention if it's wandering, it moves the offense of driving away afterwards from reckless driving to felony hit & run, and it tends to make the malicious ones easier to catch (they often slam on the brakes, jump out of the car, and attempt to beat the officer to death with their fists for daring to touch their car).

In the past, I've often lived in places frequented by the worst of the worst drivers, and often carried a walking stick. Said stick is sturdy enough to stave in a door panel or penetrate a windshield. I've used it for escape purposes in the past, when nearly being run over (pole vaulting as you dive out of the way, using the car as a fulcrum, gets you out of the way faster). I've occasionally then had to defend myself against tire-iron-armed drivers who get pissed off at my "unwarranted and unprovoked" (as one driver put it, after I used the staff to evade his front bumper, damaging it in the process) vandalism of their car.
I figured if worse came to worst, I could posthumously take a bad driver with me...me crushed under his car, him impaled through the windshield by the walking stick...

A friend of mine who lived in the same area used to carry raw eggs around with her. If someone tried to run her down, she'd slap one onto their car as she jumped aside. She also threw them at the cars of people who pulled that "honk/scream at pedestrians to make them jump" stunt. For those who are unaware of the effect of egg whites on automotive paint, it's ugly.

[Sylvia727]

I was waiting to cross a street at a crosswalk(across the bottom of an off ramp) <snip> I was standing at a crosswalk and all the cars were ignoring the stop sign.

I don't know if this would have helped you in this situation, but body language can play a huge part. If I'm waiting when I don't have right of way, I stand three or four feet back from the curb, rest my weight on my back foot, and stare idly at traffic. Drivers get the message that I don't intend to cross and thus don't slow down in anticipation of my jay-walking. When I do have right of way but don't want to die to claim it, I stand at the very edge of the curb, muscles tense, and watch the faces of the drivers. If they start to slow, I take one step out into the walk, enough that I can jump back to safety if necessary. Usually after three or four cars, someone gets the hint and stops or waves me ahead.

As a driver, if I see someone sitting at the side of the road, I wouldn't assume that they were waiting to cross. Of course, I would stop at the stop sign, so that might not be an issue.

The bike paths have been useful for pedestrians, as well. When the city planners work on developing the bike path, they sometimes notice a lack of decent crossing points on particular stretches of road. So they add one. Yay!

I've noticed this as well. Also, when they redo an intersection for any reason, such as the road just needing general repairs or needing an update due to changed traffic patterns, they redo the nearby sidewalks. The new systems can be a bit weird (one intersection has me detouring 20 yards around the traffic exchange) but I'm very grateful that they're in place.

Around here, when there are no crosswalks, one is suppossed to cross at the very edge of traffic, as if there was one. Lefthand turns (across opposing traffic) can make it a bit tricky, as there is no crosswalk and thus cars don't think to check for pedestrians.

We don't have shared paths here (midwest America) except in nature parks. Bikers and skaters yell out "On your left!" when they approach, so that the pedestrians know they are about to be passed on their left and can politely move to their right. The law is that bikers are to travel in the road as if they were a car. Always, when I have been a driver coming up behind a biker, he moves to the shoulder of the road and waves me ahead. I pull halfway into the turn lane to pass him, as most courteous drivers do. Usually, bikers just use the sidewalks (footpaths) and drive on the grass to pass pedestrians. It's illegal and they can get ticketed, but as a pedestrian I don't blame them for not wanting to die.

Proof 2-
<snip>
So running a red light and hit and run vs. pedestrian isn't worth sending the police in my town.

That's horrible! Fortunately, I've never been hit by a car. If I had, I'd be bleeping pissed, both at the driver and at the cops. I had some crazy bint try to force me out of the intersection - I was in the turn lane, she was in the straight and wanted over, but there was no room. She didn't even hit my car, just came within six inches. I called the cops and they sent an officer over in 30 minutes to take a report. They couldn't do anything about it, but just having a report down in black and white made me feel better.

I don't know why y'all's cops would refuse to take your report. Perhaps, if you could afford it, you could have gone to the ER to check for internal injuries? Because if the driver had been going even a little faster, or if you hadn't been in such good health, you could have been severely injured. What would the cops think then? I'd bet they'd care just a li'l bit more, don't you?

[BlaqueKatt]

I can attest to the hostility toward pedestrians in my city(thanks to the oblivious college students not paying any attention to their surroundings, due to ipods and cell phones. My sister is a cab driver and has a college student step out from in between parked cars while yammering on their cell phone, at least 6x a week-she slams on her brakes and honks and they are totally unaware of anything-even the honking!!!!


So that makes the drivers hostile towards all of us pedestrians. And the police don't care.

proof 1-

I was waiting to cross a street at a crosswalk(across the bottom of an off ramp) waited for 30 minutes before I sat down to wait for a break in traffic. Nearby store owner called me in for looking "suspicious"-cops showed up and asked me why I was there-I showed them my ID with my address-you could see my house from where I was standing. They told me to walk three miles to a pedestrian bridge-when I was standing at a crosswalk and all the cars were ignoring the stop sign.


Proof 2-

My husband and I were walking home from the store-had the walk light and some guy in a truck was apparently watching oncoming traffic(he was stopped) and not the lights, which became obvious when he pulled out as my husband and I* were directly in front of his truck . he hit us both(lightly) and got a very shocked look on his face when we pounded the hood of his truck(he didn't even look our direction at all before pulling out. We got a partial plate number(6 out of 7 numbers the last one was one of two possibilities 3 or an 8), make and model, and a witness, after he peeled out. Called the police, they sent us a self reporting form and told us because we didn't have the full plate number there was nothing they could do. And they refused to send a patrol car because they were too busy. The truck hit us hard enough to leave bruises, and broke my cell phone screens. So running a red light and hit and run vs. pedestrian isn't worth sending the police in my town.


*husband who is 6'2" was directly in front of the driver's side headlight, myself at 5'5" was in the exact middle of the grill(I know because I had an emblem shaped bruise on my hip for a week)

[Seshat]

In both the major cities I've lived in (both Australian), motorists treat pedestrians reasonably well. Only the odd idiot honks us or indicates impatience when we cross the road: most gesture for us to cross, or gratefully accept an invitation for them to cross first.

Usually the idiot is a group of teenage boys who want to yell something incoherent.

Unfortunately, city planners don't always treat pedestrians and cyclists as well as the motorists do. There are always footpaths (sidewalks) along the roads, but not always useful crossing points. And cyclists are required to travel on the road unless otherwise signed, yet on some roads that's incredibly dangerous.

Fortunately, over the last two or three decades, bike paths and shared paths* have become more and more common. Sometimes the bike path is a concrete stripe of its own (common where the road has a separating island down the middle: the island becomes the bike path), sometimes it's painted on the road (so the road essentially has an extra, narrower lane).

The bike paths have been useful for pedestrians, as well. When the city planners work on developing the bike path, they sometimes notice a lack of decent crossing points on particular stretches of road. So they add one. Yay!


* Shared path: open to foot and bicycle traffic. Often, but not always, has a stripe painted down it with a bike symbol on one side and walking-feet symbol on the other.
If there is no such stripe, bicyclists who are approaching slower-moving pedestrians who are blocking the path are expected to ring their bells, and the pedestrians are expected to move to one side of the path to let the bike pass.

[blas87]

This morning's walk was a bit more refreshing. Not one, but TWO motorists motioned for me to go ahead and cross the street before them. I made sure to give them the "wave" (like a universal sign for "thank you").

What nice people....and the weirdest part was....they were YOUNG people!?

[Sylvia727]

I feel for anybody who for whatever reason can't rely on vehicular transport (of any kind) and has to walk/bike anywhere.

It's not that I can't rely on vehicular transport. I can borrow my mom's car or my gramma's, public transport here is acceptable, and I have friends who don't mind giving me a lift to the whatever. I walk because I enjoy it and it's good for me. Exercise is soothing to me (endorphines, anyone?). I live a mostly sedentary lifestyle, so when I don't walk 8 or 12 miles a week, I gain weight, I gain inches, and I feel bloated and unhealthy. Humans have been designed by millenia of evolution to be active creatives, and that's not a need I can fulfill at my desk or by walking the 1000 yards to the cafeteria.

Because let's face it, even if a pedestrian/bicyclist is acting irresponsibly in terms of crossing or suddenly darting out into traffic, they have NO chance against a roughly-2 1/2 ton package of metal boring down on them. So why not give them a little leeway?

I feel bad enough accidentally running over insects and animals. I would feel horrible if I whacked somebody with a car.

As a responsible pedestrian, I thank you. Even when I follow the rules I run a chance of getting hit by a 2.5 ton package of metal, and yeah, that scares me.

[Amethyst Hunter]

I feel for anybody who for whatever reason can't rely on vehicular transport (of any kind) and has to walk/bike anywhere. Because let's face it, even if a pedestrian/bicyclist is acting irresponsibly in terms of crossing or suddenly darting out into traffic, they have NO chance against a roughly-2 1/2 ton package of metal boring down on them. So why not give them a little leeway?

I feel bad enough accidentally running over insects and animals. I would feel horrible if I whacked somebody with a car.