why do so many pedestrians risk their lives walking across junctions?

wildlifeboy

there is probably a million threads on this but here goes. i see this every single day i drive when i need to take a left turn. hundreds of people dont bother to check if a car is indicating to take a turn and just walk out. funnily enough its most ly adults. adults with prams and young kids. i always beep at them and shake my fist but they still seem to think they are in the right. they are causing a hazzard for me as the car behind me is expecting me to take the turn and not jam on my brakes. do many people see this?

djimi

People are stupid; sad fact of life Im afraid.

The right turn off Dame Street/College Green towards Wicklow Street in Dublin is like suicide corner.

Dartz

Because I'll do more damage to most cars that hit me...

listermint

Its not that people are stupid. It is in a nutshell that people Never think 'it' will happen to them.


'IT' can be anything from getting run over, getting shot, getting mugged, catching aids, being in an air crash.

No one walks around in life assuming the worst. Well not no one, most. The people that do assume the worst dont leave the house, but thats for another discussion.

working fool

People don't give a dam
There's always someone else to blame
Injury lawyers etc will help them cash in

Tails142

why do so many pedestrians risk their lives walking across junctions?

To get to the other side

RainyDay

As a cyclist, I'm amazed at the number of peds who walk out through a line of stopped traffic without bothering to look for cyclists or motorbikes. I know of one child who was badly injured in a situation like this recently.

Grayditch

Because they've never been hit by a car before, so it'll never happen to them.

Columbia

I think it's laziness or impatience. There could be cars coming from several different directions, and they don't feel like checking all of them so they have a quick glance around and off they go. These days I pretty much expect any given pedestrian to step out right in front of me, so I'm always prepared (and sometimes already reacting) when it happens.

_Kaiser_

Myself I found that when I started driving with dipped lights on all the time a few years back that pedestrians aren't as quick to do something stupid.

Sure you'll still get the occasional muppet who'll chance it anyway but I noticed a distinct difference afterwards.

piston

The pedestrian crossing the road you are about to turn into has priority, so long as they have already put a foot on the road.

_Kaiser_

piston wrote: »

The pedestrian crossing the road you are about to turn into has priority, so long as they have already put a foot on the road.

And that's part of the problem, coupled with our ambulance chasing compo culture.

It's the same reason why cyclists just break lights as well as they all figure that if anything does happen, sure the motorist will be liable anyway.

It's the same mindset that means if some idiot jams on his brakes in front of you and you run into them, you're liable by default -ie: no one takes any sort of personal responsibility for their actions anymore.. it's always up to the other guy to look out for your stupidity :mad: (ditto the whole bailout mentality of those who thought they could become property magnates in the "good ole days" but now want someone else to pick up the tab :rolleyes:)

jimmy the car

I think it's madness, how much time are you going to save or are you in that much of a rush that you will risk it all to cross the road. Unfortunately for him a ped stepped out in front of me going down Pearse street on my bike a while back, he came from inbetween cars and I'd no hope of stopping or swerving to miss him without crashing myself, ploughed straight in to him and unfortunately I found out later he ended up with a fractured ankle. Could have been alot worse I suppose.

Páid

wildlifeboy wrote: »

there is probably a million threads on this but here goes. i see this every single day i drive when i need to take a left turn. hundreds of people dont bother to check if a car is indicating to take a turn and just walk out. funnily enough its most ly adults. adults with prams and young kids. i always beep at them and shake my fist but they still seem to think they are in the right. they are causing a hazzard for me as the car behind me is expecting me to take the turn and not jam on my brakes. do many people see this?

I drive, cycle and am a pedestrian on occasion. You don't give a lot of information regarding the circumstances in your post above, e.g. are there traffic lights, a pedestrian crossing, etc.

If you are turning left you always have to yield to pedestrians already crossing.

Vehicles do not have an automatic right of way on the road. The overriding rule is, in all circumstances, proceed with caution.

You must always yield to:

pedestrians already crossing at a junction,
pedestrians on a zebra crossing,
pedestrians on a pelican crossing when the amber light is flashing, and
pedestrians and traffic when you are moving off from a stationary position (for example from your position at a stop sign or a parking space).
To avoid doubt and in the interest of road safety a vehicle should always yield to pedestrians.

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/junctions-roundabouts/junctions.html

Even at the suicide corner mentioned, if the pedestrian is completely and utterly in the wrong you must still yield to them.

djimi

Páid wrote: »

Even at the suicide corner mentioned, if the pedestrian is completely and utterly in the wrong you must still yield to them.

Of course; that goes without saying regardless of who is in the right. However, if they dart out in front of your car, as a lot of them do, its very hard to avoid them even with the best will in the world.

movingsucks

For the same reason motorists sail through pelican crossings without a thought. People don't give a sugar they just do what ever suits them at the time and shrug "sure everyone does it".
I'm partially deaf so I have to be super cautious crossing the road, especially with a buggy. Sometimes it can be hard to see if I'm near a bend because I have the length of the buggy in front of me so needless to say it takes me a while to get across the road. I will actually walk out of my way to a crossing (not that they guarantee safety) than run across the road. I won't move until the green man comes on.

monkeypants

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

It's the same mindset that means if some idiot jams on his brakes in front of you and you run into them, you're liable by default -ie: no one takes any sort of personal responsibility for their actions anymore

Why don't you take personal responsibility for not driving so close to the car in front or so fast that you can't stop if required?

larchill

Predestrianitis! They probably think the same about us (us = motorists, cyclists, etc). Some have no road sense though, choosing the wrong, even reckless place to cross!

_Kaiser_

monkeypants wrote: »

Why don't you take personal responsibility for not driving so close to the car in front or so fast that you can't stop if required?

Did I say I was talking about myself? Nice try though I suppose!

Don't tell me you've never seen (or even read here about) incidents where some idiot does something that leads to a collision or (as I see more and more often lately) someone driving along with brake lights that don't work at all or are stuck on all the time.

the culture of deference

I have been stopped at traffic lights on stephens green and have had some drunk fall on the bonnet.

Most people cross the road without looking, they listen, silent electric cars will kill more people than petrol engined cars.

As a biker and a cyclist I have seen stupid things. I use to drive the quays when the traffic was impossible, filtering between traffic I use to nearly hit 4 or 5 pedestrians every day just from capel st up to liberty hall.

The amount of cyclists that wear ear phones and no helmets is unbelievable, should be a law.

monkeypants

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Did I say I was talking about myself? Nice try though I suppose!

It's not really about you. I was just pointing out the dichotomy of calling for increased personal responsibility and the abdication of same responsibilty in the same sentence.

Personally I've been hit with a car as a pedestrian twice, many years ago. Once was deliberate on the part of the driver and the other was accidental (driver was distracted by kids and the conditions were bad - I was crossing on the green man). I came off worse in both and neither driver stoppeed. I'm now very careful when crossing, I suppose that's what comes from being trained by Darth Vader and Judge.

Pkiernan

A responsible motorist (like me) will alert pedestrians to their failings in these incidences by blaring the horn, rolling down the window and roaring the word "MORON!!!" at them as loud as I can.

Usually gets the message across.

On the plus side, I always stop for pedestrians waiting to cross the road at roundabouts, and pelican crossings. It is shameful how many motorists don't.

Max Power1

Pkiernan wrote: »

A responsible motorist (like me) will alert pedestrians to their failings in these incidences by blaring the horn, rolling down the window and roaring the word "MORON!!!" at them as loud as I can.

Usually gets the message across.

On the plus side, I always stop for pedestrians waiting to cross the road at roundabouts, and pelican crossings. It is shameful how many motorists don't.

I was going to thank the post, but then you put in the last addendum.

+1 to the top, -1 to the bottom section of the post respectively.