Numpty pedestrians - ?

[KnittyNorah]

When I lived in Berlin, there was a road nearby which was officially closed because of a huge mains water leak - vehicles could not actually, physically, get onto it - there were barriers at each end, plus a section next to the crossing was sandbagged off because of the water issue - but as the 'ampelmann' crossing was still operating, crowds of people would collect there waiting for the 'ampelmännchen' to turn green ... an Aussie friend and I used to stroll leisurely across and enjoy the expressions of consternation on people's faces ... a few, a very few, would always follow us, somewhat warily and uncertainly and we would feel good that we'd given them confidence to do so in a situation where obeying the signals was a blatantly nonsensical thing to do.

 

[Sharky]

There are some numpty pedestrians out there. My other, other daughter (three in total) commutes by car from Blackheath to Bromley and one day, she was in a slow moving traffic stretch and some numpty pedestrian decided to run between the cars and my daughter's car hit him. Nothing serious, but it caused my daughter a lot of stress, thinking there may be subsequent actions taken by the ped or police, but there wasn't.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Naughty car!

 

[Rusty Nails]

So there are some numpty pedestrians, numpty motorists and numpty cyclists. Oodathortit.

 

[simongt]

waiting in case a mad cyclist was filtering furiously through the queue

Damn, I've been sussed - !

 

[berty bassett]

Can’t see the problem ?
They were patiently waiting and following the rules of the road
World would be a lovely place if everybody did it and didn’t race around so much

 

[Rusty Nails]

I find it strange that cyclists, who generally rail against the criticism of being red light jumpers, criticise, even gently, pedestrians for not doing so.

 

[GuyBoden]

Today, two cars went through the zebra crossing as I waited patiently to cross. Should I have stepped onto the crossing and risked my life, so the cars would need to stop.

The highway code doesn't make sense with this statement "Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing."

Highway code
Rule 19

Zebra crossings. Give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross. Vehicles will need more time when the road is slippery. Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing. Keep looking both ways, and listening, in case a driver or rider has not seen you and attempts to overtake a vehicle that has stopped.

 

[sheddy]

^ Does the new HC address this ?

 

[MontyVeda]

if there's two lanes of standing traffic, I'll wait for the green man too. Sod's Law states that the moment i start to cross, the far lane will begin to move, putting me in an awkward situation.

 

[MartinQ]

Despite, as I said no traffic was moving due to the red light ahead and there was virtually nothing coming in t'other direction, they stood and waited - !

Nothing much happens in Norwich does it?

 

[mjr]

Nothing much happens in Norwich does it?

They probably weren't from Norwich. It used to be very rare that pedestrians didn't just walk across whenever they fancied, but all the years of road widening and junction enlargements has made that less common.

 

[mjr]

^ Does the new HC address this ?

It adds the instruction "you should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross" to the zebra crossing rule 195.

 

[PK99]

Today, two cars went through the zebra crossing as I waited patiently to cross. Should I have stepped onto the crossing and risked my life, so the cars would need to stop.

The highway code doesn't make sense with this statement "Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing."

Highway code
Rule 19

Zebra crossings. Give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross. Vehicles will need more time when the road is slippery. Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing. Keep looking both ways, and listening, in case a driver or rider has not seen you and attempts to overtake a vehicle that has stopped.

It's actually very simple, as soon as you put one foot on the crossing, with the other remaining on the pavement the traffic is obliged to stop.

 

[Seevio]

I will sometimes do that if I'm tired or distracted or my brain otherwise lacks sufficient processing power to want to look out for dickhead motorists not watching where they're going. Sometimes I even put my finger round the blind man's knob if I don't want to have to look for the green signal.

You don't get to cross the road any quicker but at least the blind man is happy.