Lemmings Come Out At Lunchtime.

[Jezston]

Damn, I thought Derby city center was bad for pedestrians stepping out without looking during rush hour. Having taken a half day today (ended up having to stay up late after witnessing a break-in last night) I have discovered lunchtime is horrendous.

The annoying thing is pedestrians at crossings waiting at crossings for busses and cars to go past, then just stepping out en masse with a red man as I'm pretty much on the crossing itself causing me to have brake suddenly to avoid hitting them. The worse example today being going down one single lane section of road, hearing a police car approaching at some speed with the siren on, I pull over just by a pedestrian crossing to let them past ... and some daft woman pushes her pram out right into the path of the police car. Police car deftly avoided killing her and her child but my heart bloody stopped then.

Please note I'm not tarring pedestrians with the same kind of brush some drivers tar us cyclists, but in all seriousness - people from Derby really are generally a bit thick

 

[Melonfish]

do you hear the odd phrase "oh no" as several of them explode with a comical popping sound and a shower of confetti?

if so i would agree, they are indeed lemmings.

On a related note, yeah people do tend to wander out whenever they can to cross a road, large groups have a tendency to actually stop traffic, i've seen this in manchester many times. one person has the cahones to go and the sheeple simply follow causing all the cars etc to stop and let them past.
not had someone walk out on me yet (touch wood)

 

[mknash]

My biggest issue with pedestrians crossing roads is the odd habit of using the cycle lane as an extension of the foot path when crossing. Just stand in the cycle lane and wait for traffic to clear, then look put out when I call out that im incoming

 

[suecsi]

My biggest issue with pedestrians crossing roads is the odd habit of using the cycle lane as an extension of the foot path when crossing. Just stand in the cycle lane and wait for traffic to clear, then look put out when I call out that im incoming

 

[suecsi]

+1

This bugs me, particularly when there is no-one in the pedestrian area.

 

[Tommi]

On a related note, yeah people do tend to wander out whenever they can to cross a road, large groups have a tendency to actually stop traffic, i've seen this in manchester many times. one person has the cahones to go and the sheeple simply follow causing all the cars etc to stop and let them past.
not had someone walk out on me yet (touch wood)

Yes, I see (and participate in) this every day. I think this is because of the "all pedestrian crossings green, everyone else red" principle that seems prevalent at least in London. While it sounds safe in theory, in practice it leads to many pedestrians crossing on red because they're "being held by stupid red signal when there's little or no traffic". And when majority of pedestrian signals feel like being there to slow you down rather than helping you get across you grow to actively ignore them. I wonder if the net result is positive or negative compared to rest of Europe.

The group behaviour is rather scary though. While first few can probably safely get across I've seen it several times start a long long chain of people following, most of whom seemed to pay any attention to traffic the first time it stopped inches away from them.

 

[funnymummy]

Please note I'm not tarring pedestrians with the same kind of brush some drivers tar us cyclists, but in all seriousness - people from Derby really are generally a bit thick

Not all of us

 

[400bhp]

I'm not sure generally what the problem is.

Live and let live. We have the ability to move around them.

 

[Bman]

do you hear the odd phrase "oh no" as several of them explode with a comical popping sound and a shower of confetti?

if so i would agree, they are indeed lemmings.

On a related note, yeah people do tend to wander out whenever they can to cross a road, large groups have a tendency to actually stop traffic, i've seen this in manchester many times. one person has the cahones to go and the sheeple simply follow causing all the cars etc to stop and let them past.
not had someone walk out on me yet (touch wood)

In my mind, those pixels were not confetti!

 

[Melonfish]

In my mind, those pixels were not confetti!

very tiny kidneys and livers n stuff? hehehehe.
tbh i didn't get much chance to play lemmings when i was a teen, my mum kept steeling the game and playing it herself, she very quickly beat all my best levels...

 

[Kestevan]

Please note I'm not tarring pedestrians with the same kind of brush some drivers tar us cyclists, but in all seriousness - people from Derby really are generally a bit thick

----------------------------
Not all of us


Yeah, but were bright enough to leave at least...... not quite sure about anyone who actually chooses to stay......

 

[jugglingphil]

Please note I'm not tarring pedestrians with the same kind of brush some drivers tar us cyclists, but in all seriousness - people from Derby really are generally a bit thick

Spoken as a true resident of Nottingham

 

[PoliceMadAd]

Damn, I thought Derby city center was bad for pedestrians stepping out without looking during rush hour. Having taken a half day today (ended up having to stay up late after witnessing a break-in last night) I have discovered lunchtime is horrendous.

The annoying thing is pedestrians at crossings waiting at crossings for busses and cars to go past, then just stepping out en masse with a red man as I'm pretty much on the crossing itself causing me to have brake suddenly to avoid hitting them. The worse example today being going down one single lane section of road, hearing a police car approaching at some speed with the siren on, I pull over just by a pedestrian crossing to let them past ... and some daft woman pushes her pram out right into the path of the police car. Police car deftly avoided killing her and her child but my heart bloody stopped then.

Please note I'm not tarring pedestrians with the same kind of brush some drivers tar us cyclists, but in all seriousness - people from Derby really are generally a bit thick

I agree with you completely, being a week-daily commuter through the city centre, i had the same problem yesterday, Victoria Street (bus cycle taxi only) seems to be the worst place for it. Numerous times in the past i've nearly taken people out, i see them walking towards the road and i wait to see if they look before crossing, most of them don't, so i have to navigate around them. It ain't good...

 

[BrumJim]

Yesterday was Lemmings day. I almost wiped out two day-dreaming pedestrians. More disturbing was the accompanying yelp from my shadow behind - she was more disturbed/worried than I was.

And then she apologised for using me, as there was a very strong headwind yesterday evening. Pity. I thought she was mesmerised by my cute behind. Oh well.

 

[funnymummy]

Yeah, but were bright enough to leave at least...... not quite sure about anyone who actually chooses to stay......

I like visiting the family that stayed.... Can still go out with a tenner, have a couple of beers, Fish n mix on the way home, And still have change...some things about 'up there' are ok