Have you ever hit someone on your commute?

[mjr]

Oh, i totally forgot about the time i came up to a junction, signalled left and a woman walked into the road and then into my hand I continued around the corner. She was not best pleased. I was amused that she had literally walked herself into a slap...

You're meant to give way to people crossing the side road...

 

[Genau]

I am having to be very careful to avoid pedestrians at the moment. Cornhill is buses and bicycles only so many people are just stepping out because they cannot hear anything coming. That will end badly if they encounter a hybrid bus quietly running on electric. Across Bank junction, the top part of Queen Victoria St is being resurfaced and is also bicycles-only so again they are just strolling across without looking.

After that it's all cycle lanes from Blackfriars to Hyde Park and they are just one giant bicycle scrum some days.

 

[Lonestar]

I am having to be very careful to avoid pedestrians at the moment. Cornhill is buses and bicycles only so many people are just stepping out because they cannot hear anything coming. That will end badly if they encounter a hybrid bus quietly running on electric. Across Bank junction, the top part of Queen Victoria St is being resurfaced and is also bicycles-only so again they are just strolling across without looking.

After that it's all cycle lanes from Blackfriars to Hyde Park and they are just one giant bicycle scrum some days.

I'm afraid this is pretty normal behaviour in London.I also get a lot of this down the back streets.

 

[dhd.evans]

You're meant to give way to people crossing the side road...

Not sure what you mean. I was coming up to the junction, ped was on the pavement on the left, i continued on to turn left and the ped (on her phone might i add) walked off the kerb, into my reach (not intentionally though!) and i caught her in the face with my hand signal.

 

[jefmcg]

I am having to be very careful to avoid pedestrians at the moment. Cornhill is buses and bicycles only so many people are just stepping out because they cannot hear anything coming. That will end badly if they encounter a hybrid bus quietly running on electric. Across Bank junction, the top part of Queen Victoria St is being resurfaced and is also bicycles-only so again they are just strolling across without looking.

Sounds idyllic

 

[mjr]

I am having to be very careful to avoid pedestrians at the moment. Cornhill is buses and bicycles only so many people are just stepping out because they cannot hear anything coming. That will end badly if they encounter a hybrid bus quietly running on electric.

Why? Bus drivers should have the sense to use their audible warning devices and proceed slowly past crowds and stop if needed (but I realise the reality of the terrible collision record of London buses...). A bell makes it pretty easy to help people hear something coming, but still proceed with caution.

Not sure what you mean. I was coming up to the junction, ped was on the pavement on the left, i continued on to turn left and the ped (on her phone might i add) walked off the kerb, into my reach (not intentionally though!) and i caught her in the face with my hand signal.

I might have misunderstood where they were walking but http://highwaycode.info/rule/170

and if she was crossing the road you were initially on, http://highwaycode.info/rule/205 - in other words, I think it's fair enough that she was not best pleased... but on the other cheek, she should probably be thankful that it was only a slap rather than what a heavier road user would have done.

 

[dantheman]

I don't think from how I read it that she was already crossing.. There's always shouting of this rule, that code etc.. As long as humans are in control of vehicles, there will be accidents.. It's common sense in most of these situations.. The highway code is just that - a code as guidance that hopefully all road users adhere to, and if they do then it drastically reduces risks... I believe that not all the codes are enforceable in law either..

What happened to "stop, look, listen" don't remember ever being told "cross the road without looking whilst using your phone and listening to music". People on here shout this law, that law and completely ignore the obvious quite a lot... I honestly hope the next poster to do so never hits someone, or gets hit - but I'm sure it would change their outlook on things..

 

[mjr]

What happened to "stop, look, listen" don't remember ever being told "cross the road without looking whilst using your phone and listening to music". People on here shout this law, that law and completely ignore the obvious quite a lot... I honestly hope the next poster to do so never hits someone, or gets hit - but I'm sure it would change their outlook on things..

The obvious like cycling so close to someone that they can walk into your turn signal before you can stop is too farking close and fast, regardless of whether there's a kerb there? You know, like if a motorist drives so close to a cyclist that they can slap their car/van/whatever, then they were too close?

Hopefully, "stop look listen" died with the rest of the 70s/80s victim-blaming nonsense (some hope!) and it's funny how the phone often doesn't get mentioned until the dodgy cycling too close to people is challenged - it's almost as if we can't verify whether or not a walker was distracted by a phone, like we can't check whether or not some cyclist really was a ninja entering the road from a blind alley at speed...

 

[dantheman]

So you do not believe in teaching children to stop at the kerbside and look both ways? Its basic but works, there are no laws against pedestrians using phones, we are not licensed to walk either, I don't think It matters as far as blame is concerned very much, yet it should be stated from the word go?

So long as people aren't tw@ts and aren't looking to harm others or significantly speeding or drunk/on drugs then nobody is out to harm another on the roads.. Common sense on both sides really helps - and in my opinion that includes not stepping out without looking, I'm sure we'll have done at some point and mostly if touted or such a quick sorry keeps everyone happy... Common sense..

It's like people that try to make out they've never broken any law, when what they mean is "I've never been caught breaking a law"

Mjr - this isn't trying to pick a fight with you, or aimed solely at you, I'm merely trying to say that common sense surely must prevail? In most situations nobody is completely blameless, and laws/codes that are written in black and white don't always work in a grey area..

 

[mjr]

So you do not believe in teaching children to stop at the kerbside and look both ways? Its basic but works,

It doesn't work and it cannot work (telling the potential victim to avoid the danger never suffices) and even if it did, we are never going to have 100% of walkers taught and tested. However, 100% of lawful public-highway motorists have been taught (including self-taught) and passed a test, plus they are the ones doing most of the injuring - that's where our education and enforcement should concentrate if we're serious about reducing casualties. In between the two come cyclists, who have done some learning but not had to pass a test and don't injure anything like as many or as badly on average.

And no, I basically don't believe in teaching children to stop at the kerbside and look both ways - I believe in teaching everyone to be looking around at reasonable intervals and at whatever extra times they feel is helpful, as part of being aware of their surroundings, or even the sense of being fully part of your world. If little Johnny or Jane gets splatted by a pavement motorist that they could have seen coming, it's going to be almost no comfort to the surviving friends and family that they did nothing wrong because they weren't crossing the kerb line so they didn't have to look. Heck, we don't even have kerbs on some "shared space" streets any more.

I used to think it was common sense that you don't pass walkers close and fast in any mode of transport (even on foot!), but I used to think it was common sense that the Green Cross Code man was clearly a Lord of the evil empire in more senses than one. The motoring force is strong in our society and seems to be exerting some sort of mind trick over cyclists too...

 

[Milzy]

OK, it's time to confess..

About a year or so ago, I hit a yr7 schoolboy (11/12 y/o).

I came out of work on a Friday and thinking of getting home powered down the road, down a hill and there's a bridge, I was doing about 35 and was looking at the road only a couple metres ahead of me (the traffic was light, no cars very close).. I looked up at the traffic lights as I came under a bridge (they were green) and then as I looked back down there was a group of 4 or 5 schoolchildren ahead of me, as my brain thought "what the? " and "ride around them" and "sh*t, no space ahh I'm gonna hit" I broke and must have hit one at around 20-25mph.. I did call out...

I was wearing no helmet and flipped in the air landing on my rucksack, still clipped in I skidded down the road on my back/rucksack..

I immediately got up, took bike off road and turned around to shout some abuse etc......

Then I saw the boy, who was apologising, had blood covering half of his whole face, and a massive puddle of blood on the road about a foot long by half that wide... OMG...... I scraped him up and obviously waited for ambulance and police etc. When his dad turned up and went in the ambulance he thanked me for stopping which was nice, but after having to go police station etc it was late when I got home and I was obviously shaken, and ached for a few days after..

The boy ended up having scans and such but was just cut and bruised, nothing permanent - there is no crossing there, and I was not charged or anything like that...

It's amazing how much blood can pour out from your head and I was lucky not to have hit mine, and will always remember this...

Surely I can't be alone in having done something like this?

Read my bmx accident thread.
It was your fault for going too fast and not been more cautious around unpredictable teenagers.
At least you had the balls to post. Something we all can learn from.

 

[mjr]

Read my bmx accident thread.
It was your fault for going too fast and not been more cautious around unpredictable teenagers.
At least you had the balls to post. Something we all can learn from.

Well, it seems the OP didn't see the teenagers early enough to realise caution was needed, so I'd say it was probably shared fault: one not looking far enough ahead for the speed and who knows what the teenagers did (edited to add: ) because they weren't noticed when looking up which suggests they weren't directly in the way then.

 

[dantheman]

Read my bmx accident thread.
It was your fault for going too fast and not been more cautious around unpredictable teenagers.
At least you had the balls to post. Something we all can learn from.

Lol, I have read that post.. Seemed to me they should have been taught to look before stepping out.. At no point was I breaking any speed limit, but yes, I agree it could have been avoided (like almost all badthings) so was partly my fault, even though no law was broken.. Kind of common sense really.

This is my whole point, seeing early to take extra caution - there's always going to be times where this cannot/doesn't happen. Common sense dictates none of us want to hurt someone or get hurt, so common sense should also be that we all use our senses to have spacial awareness, blaming one party is only ever one side of a story.. I completely u derating my own mortality and will continue to teach my children to use there senses to keep them safe, and at a young age (mine range 2-12 years) this means telling them "always stop before the road" and firstly "wait till I say it's safe/hold my hand" etc etc..

Maybe I'm stupid. Stupid is as stupid does..

Nobody can expect whether law backs them or not, to be completely ignorant to what all others do and yet still always be 100% safe in all situations..

 

[dhd.evans]

Why? Bus drivers should have the sense to use their audible warning devices and proceed slowly past crowds and stop if needed (but I realise the reality of the terrible collision record of London buses...). A bell makes it pretty easy to help people hear something coming, but still proceed with caution.


I might have misunderstood where they were walking but http://highwaycode.info/rule/170
View attachment 414130
and if she was crossing the road you were initially on, http://highwaycode.info/rule/205 - in other words, I think it's fair enough that she was not best pleased... but on the other cheek, she should probably be thankful that it was only a slap rather than what a heavier road user would have done.

Neither; i am the red vehicle here and the ped is the yellow-shaded word Lada.

Junction was clear to the right so i signalled left, kept travelling and the ped stepped out into my hand... comical if you think about it.

 

[Dan B]

Nobody can expect whether law backs them or not, to be completely ignorant to what all others do and yet still always be 100% safe in all situations..

In a civilised society, in a public place, the greater responsibility is assigned to the party who brings the greater risk (the larger vehicle, the faster vehicle, the heavier vehicle).

I'll teach my children to be cautious crossing the road because sadly we don't live in a civilised society, but that doesn't mean it's right, and it certainly doesn't mean I'll be a party to endorsing the wrongness.