Hit my first pedestrian :(

[400bhp]

If you're walking round a blind corner at 3mph, and you meet another pedestrian coming the other way also at walking pace, both of you stop walking, nobody gets injured, and a small amount of sidestepping allows you both to continue on your way without much time lost.

If you're crossing a road behind a stopped bus with similar lack of visibility, and a cyclist or motorcyclist hits you because he's going too fast to be able to stop in the distance he can see to be clear... I think he'd be on very shaky ground to claim it was your fault just because he was going along the road and you were crossing it

Now, you might think tat might you. Believe it or not I was involved in someone stepping out of a lift into my path and she broke her nose - happened a few weeks ago. Just one of those moments - her snout was the exact same height as my shoulder blade and she stepped out of the lift at 90 degrees.

 

[400bhp]

I was going to make a response along the lines of what TC and DanB are saying but I think I can see the way this thread is heading so I can't be bothered.

.

I know what you mean - sometimes there's no point continuing.

 

[Davidsw8]

... and while I'm on my soapbox I think this attitude of the ped is always right is downright dangerous as it lulls them in to a false state of safety. They think they can't be hit because they have the rights to cross where they like; we now have a situation e.g. round Elephant & Castle where people walk out in front of moving traffic, hold their hand out and expect it to stop. Some kid got hit and killed crossing this area a few weeks back...

 

[PK99]

... and while I'm on my soapbox I think this attitude of the ped is always right is downright dangerous as it lulls them in to a false state of safety. They think they can't be hit because they have the rights to cross where they like; we now have a situation e.g. round Elephant & Castle where people walk out in front of moving traffic, hold their hand out and expect it to stop. Some kid got hit and killed crossing this area a few weeks back...

Maybe they can cross wherever they like, but there is no requirement to stop for them other than on a crossing, or on turning into a road they have already started to cross - the duty of care is to not hit them.

The idea that a pedestrian can be anywhere on the read leads to the ludicrous position that the only part of the road a pedestrian is not allowed to loiter on is an official crossing:

You MUST NOT loiter on any type of crossing.
Laws ZPPPCRGD reg 19 & RTRA sect 25(5)

 

[Sandra6]

Now that it's darker it seems pedestrians are more reckless - or maybe the stupid ones just come out after dark?!
I don't know, but I've had several incidents with people trying to put themselves under my bike wheels recently.
They either walk in the road in front of me - why would you do that when there's a perfectly good pavement?? Or step out in front of me because they haven't looked, or more annoyingly when they have looked but don't seem to think that a cyclist is a good enough reason to wait. Or they cross a side street I'm about to turn into with looking.
I shouted, rang the bell and then stopped right by a lad the other day and he still was oblivious to my presence.
Last night though I was crossing the RAB and a lad was about to cross the road I was approaching - he wasn't looking at all - I shouted "don't!" and you know, he didn't!
Perhaps giving clear instructions is the key?!

 

[Davidsw8]

Now that it's darker it seems pedestrians are more reckless - or maybe the stupid ones just come out after dark?!
I don't know, but I've had several incidents with people trying to put themselves under my bike wheels recently.
They either walk in the road in front of me - why would you do that when there's a perfectly good pavement?? Or step out in front of me because they haven't looked, or more annoyingly when they have looked but don't seem to think that a cyclist is a good enough reason to wait. Or they cross a side street I'm about to turn into with looking.
I shouted, rang the bell and then stopped right by a lad the other day and he still was oblivious to my presence.
Last night though I was crossing the RAB and a lad was about to cross the road I was approaching - he wasn't looking at all - I shouted "don't!" and you know, he didn't!
Perhaps giving clear instructions is the key?!

I'm finding that people are a little more wary of crossing the road if they see something approaching them with flashing lights

Cycling around really does emphasize the need to not dress in dark clothes as a pedestrian when it's dark out. I was cycling down a very badly lit street in Central London last night, I could see silhouettes of people zig zagging across the road and just shouted 'Bear in mind, I can't see any of you because you're all dressed in black!', they scooted quickly outta the way

 

[benb]

(psst, how do I multiquote?)

Click reply on the first post you want to quote, then scroll back up and click reply on the next one - it will add the post into the reply box for you after the first one you clicked.

If the posts you want are on different pages you will need to copy the contents of the reply box into clipboard before clicking the next page, pasting the text in, and then finding the next post to click reply to.

Does that make sense?

 

[Scruffmonster]

We were both fine, however it appears I headbutted her in the ear with a helmeted head which apparently hurt quite a bit.

Feel like an arse.

Serves her right for not wearing one.




Yes. I'm kidding.

 

[Jezston]

Click reply on the first post you want to quote, then scroll back up and click reply on the next one - it will add the post into the reply box for you after the first one you clicked.

If the posts you want are on different pages you will need to copy the contents of the reply box into clipboard before clicking the next page, pasting the text in, and then finding the next post to click reply to.

Does that make sense?

Yes in that I understand you, no in terms the developers of the forum software thinking that would be a good way to do it.

 

[theclaud]

Maybe they can cross wherever they like, but there is no requirement to stop for them other than on a crossing, or on turning into a road they have already started to cross - the duty of care is to not hit them.

The idea that a pedestrian can be anywhere on the read leads to the ludicrous position that the only part of the road a pedestrian is not allowed to loiter on is an official crossing:

You MUST NOT loiter on any type of crossing.
Laws ZPPPCRGD reg 19 & RTRA sect 25(5)

I'm not sure why you have to get all shouty with THE LAW. If your duty of care is not to hit them, then you will probably have to stop for them sometimes. But no rationalization-by-Highway-Code changes the fact that it's objectionable behaviour to deliberately intimidate or frighten people by passing them very close at speed to punish them for their absent-mindedness. In practice pedestrians don't often loiter on roads, but they don't always cross in the way that highways engineers would like them to, and though it might inconvenience fast cyclists, this can only be a good thing. My usual route to work involves travelling east on a bus lane on the Kingsway in Swansea (which I can do legally, although how I am supposed to get onto it legally is a gripe for a different kind of thread). The fact that almost every pedestrian crossing the road north to south fails to look in my direction or concede priority indicates to me not that Swansea pedestrians have a rare condition that prevents them turning their necks to the right, but that no one in Highways has given the slightest thought to their needs, likely behaviour or the desire lines they will follow. This is just an example of especially poor design throwing into sharp relief a problem which, in fact, applies everywhere. I could get apoplectic about it and swerve past them in a fit of sweary pique, or I could just slow down/stop and smile to reassure them that I have no intention of running them over or shouting at them. Pedestrians are our allies - just be nicer, and indulge them a bit.

 

[PK99]

I'm not sure why you have to get all shouty with THE LAW. t.

simple cut and paste not my emphasis, that is how it was on the HC website and how it is printed in the paper version

 

[theclaud]

simple cut and paste not my emphasis, that is how it was on the HC website and how it is printed in the paper version

So it's borrowed shouting. Why cut and paste it at all? I'm pretty well acquainted with the Highway Code - I just don't think it should be used to justify bad behaviour.

 

[PK99]

So it's borrowed shouting. Why cut and paste it at all? I'm pretty well acquainted with the Highway Code - I just don't think it should be used to justify bad behaviour.

I didn't

 

[theclaud]

I didn't

Fine - but I am struggling to see what your point is. You say there is "no requirement" to stop for pedestrians except at crossings and turning into side roads, and yet we all know that they might cross anywhere, so surely there is an obvious "requirement" to stop for them rather than hitting or buzzing them, whether this is specified in the Highway Code or not?

 

[Davidsw8]

I'm not sure why you have to get all shouty with THE LAW. If your duty of care is not to hit them, then you will probably have to stop for them sometimes. But no rationalization-by-Highway-Code changes the fact that it's objectionable behaviour to deliberately intimidate or frighten people by passing them very close at speed to punish them for their absent-mindedness. In practice pedestrians don't often loiter on roads, but they don't always cross in the way that highways engineers would like them to, and though it might inconvenience fast cyclists, this can only be a good thing. My usual route to work involves travelling east on a bus lane on the Kingsway in Swansea (which I can do legally, although how I am supposed to get onto it legally is a gripe for a different kind of thread). The fact that almost every pedestrian crossing the road north to south fails to look in my direction or concede priority indicates to me not that Swansea pedestrians have a rare condition that prevents them turning their necks to the right, but that no one in Highways has given the slightest thought to their needs, likely behaviour or the desire lines they will follow. This is just an example of especially poor design throwing into sharp relief a problem which, in fact, applies everywhere. I could get apoplectic about it and swerve past them in a fit of sweary pique, or I could just slow down/stop and smile to reassure them that I have no intention of running them over or shouting at them. Pedestrians are our allies - just be nicer, and indulge them a bit.

Unfortunately, in London it seems that pedestrians treat cyclists with the same contempt that drivers do. There are those that look and stop to let you pass; those suicide cases that don't look and cross; those that look you in the eye and cross right in front of you.

The wonderful 1st set of peds are in the minority and I often smile with thanks as I pass. However, if you think the 3rd set of peds are allies, I can't imagine what your enemies are like.

Can you imagine the mayhem when electric cars become more popular? My partner had a test drive of an electric Smart the other week and you can't hear it coming... Those peds that can't be arsed to look might want to rethink their road crossing strategy.