Suicidal/Militant Pedestrian

[punkedmonkey]

Hi guys,

Am new to these forums, but I have been doing a regular short commute through Bristol for several months now and love it... apart from all the other road users

! I just wanted to solicit some opinions on an incident that occurred today.

There is a left turn which I have to take which is a sharp 90 deg left bend off a traffic lighted T junction (so not a fast turn). I generally approach this junction with care making sure I indicate my intentions clearly and have one finger on the horn as the pedestrians regularly don't a) look or b) obey the red man (despite the fact that instead of a small bicycle I could be a lorry!).

Today I did everything- green light for me, noted the two pedestrians on the verge of crossing who hadn't looked, indicated, gave a bip on the horn as i approached the turn as they hadn't seen me.

One pedestrian turned, half stepped out and then stopped. The other pedestrian (mid 20s I guess, completely able bodied) stepped out slightly ahead of the first and looked at me then calmly stopped in the middle of the road forcing me to hit him

. Fortunately, I was on the anchors pretty quickly and just bumped him with my body (bike in full on 45 deg skid), but I was expecting much worse! He then just calmly continued crossing the road! To me his intention was to wilfully obstructed me

!

I guess I should have been more wary of some militant pedestrian, but I gave him a good earful about obeying red men, looking for traffic and generally not being an idiot.

I was just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and had any opinion on who was in the right or wrong on this... it was a bizarre situation, and I look to learn from it!

Anyway - I look forward to getting a bit more involved here! Cheers!

 

[ohnovino]

Hello!

Technically, pedestrians in the road always have right of way, no matter how much of a complete and utter *@#£ they are. You did exactly the right thing by bipping the horn and being prepared to brake, but you just can't legislate for morons.

I often see weird, stubborn peds. There's a stretch round these parts where they all seem to deliberatly ignore the pavement and walk on the cycle path - I think they're just frustrated that they don't have a lovely shiny bike like mine

 

[MossCommuter]

There's an oak of a man walks on a short shared use section on my ride home. He's 7 foot tall and 4 wide - he walks hand in hand with his 5 foot girlfriend.

He took to moving into my path forcing me to stop so I carefully considered what to say to him and after a couple of weeks I mustered all of my erudition, eloquence and diplomacy, called him a cock and told him if he did it again he'd get my handlebars in his bollocks.

He's not done it again

 

[martint235]

Hi and welcome,

Unfortunately I have to agree with Ohnovino. He's a ped and therefore has right of way, particularly if he's already crossing when you turn into "his" road. It's a shame that there are idiots around though and it would be really good if everyone could use more common sense and have respect for other road users in which case he would wait and let you pass. But c'est la vie.

Now we've got the legal stance out of the way, I would have told him to get his f******g a*** out of my way cos it's unlikely he actually knows he's got right of way, he's just being a t***

 

[johnr]

and enjoy! A generous interpretation of your pedestrian's behavious is that he just froze, not knowing whether to go forwards or back. On the other hand, could just be a bit of a twit.

I think one of the problems with people his age is that they have spent their entire lives being driven around by parents and have no idea how to negotiate the world. I live in a village and some of the adolescents frighten me as they wander around in the middle of roads their parents are exceeding the speed limit on - just yards from a crossing.

Nothing a quick case of death won't cure !

 

[thomas]

There's an oak of a man walks on a short shared use section on my ride home. He's 7 foot tall and 4 wide - he walks hand in hand with his 5 foot girlfriend.

He took to moving into my path forcing me to stop so I carefully considered what to say to him and after a couple of weeks I mustered all of my erudition, eloquence and diplomacy, called him a cock and told him if he did it again he'd get my handlebars in his bollocks.

He's not done it again

LOL

My advice when it comes to peds is just to be patient and give loads of space and time. It's just not worth loosing your cool over. Plus, we are all peds and we all do silly things.

We have a responsibility to avoid accidents, no matter whos fault...especially when peds would (may) probably come off (slightly) worst than we would.

If you know this junction is common place for people not to look, just let people go before proceeding. Easy way of stopping problems.

 

[Dan B]

What others have said. But also: the "red man" signal for pedestrians is purely advisory and has no meaning in law

 

[XmisterIS]

TBH, some peds are just suicidal!!

I have had peds look straight at me and walk out in front of me when I've been on the bike, motorbike and in the car. I've even had someone do it to me when I was driving a luton van.

 

[HJ]

Change pedestrian for cyclist and this thread could be on any petrolhead forum

Everybody has the right to walk you just have to look out for them, riding a bicycle does not give you no greater right to the road...

 

[punkedmonkey]

Change pedestrian for cyclist and this thread could be on any petrolhead forum

Everybody has the right to walk you just have to look out for them, riding a bicycle does not give you no greater right to the road...

[QUOTE 1314360"]
Always give way to peds. People who bitch and moan at peds are no different to those who yell at cyclists when driving a motor vehicle.
[/quote]

Yeah I agree- I guess what really riled me was the way it seemed so calculated - he literally just sidled off at the end, like nothing had happened. I guess no sense of self-preservation - he's fortunate he didn't end up with my front gears or pedals lodged in his shins!

Guess I will just put it down to experience and be more wary of the potential for bizarrely behaving pedestrians (seems like they are an all too common occurrence)!

 

[thomas]

Change pedestrian for cyclist and this thread could be on any petrolhead forum

Everybody has the right to walk you just have to look out for them, riding a bicycle does not give you no greater right to the road...

Oh bugger off and moan about it on some ramblers-chat.net - a fun and friendly place for people who can't afford a bike

Stupid peds.

 

[summerdays]

The advantage on the bike (as opposed to a car etc), is that you can go behind them as well if it is really last minute - but if you have seen it in time then like they say slow down and give way to them...

 

[DrSquirrel]

If you're crossing dashed (or solid) lines into an area where a pedestrian is crossing or starting to cross... you should give way at the dashed (or solid) lines.

Pedestrians here are in no way militant imo. His "calculated sildling" was probably just the 1-1.5 second delay in reacting.

Green light does not mean Go.

Green man is not a requirement to cross, neither does a Red man mean they cannot cross.


You saw the pedestrians soon enough apparently, right? And had enough time to indicate and bip your horn... so why did you hit them?



Sometimes its better for a ped to stay still, as if you both go the wrong way to avoid - collision. Although peds tend to dash randomly sometimes too, which means you're better off heading for their original position!

 

[John the Monkey]

There's a good article about this on the Camden Cyclist's site;

http://camdencyclists.org.uk/info/tforum/pedestrianpriority

(although the rule have changed its number since it was written, iirc it's later in the code now). I'm with HJ & Lee on this.

 

[punkedmonkey]

OK... so the takeaways are from this incident (and btw when I say hit, it was not more than my body making gentle contact with his as you might in a crowd).

1) Be even more wary of peds - assume nothing! Let them do what they need to do, be it dance, shuffle or just wander across the road

2) Start a campaign to introduce US style jaywalking laws...

I feel suitably educated... thanks guys