I just wanted to publicly thank all of you who stop before crossing. You know who you are. Whether it's crossing the street or in a parking lot. Just wanted to say thanks. To those of you who just walk and hope I don't hit you, well, I don't like you very much.

This also goes out to you who stop when I'm backing out of a car space, be it driver or pedestrian. You're one of the good ones.

Yes.
And walk briskly. You want to stroll, go to the park.

"Waiting for Darwin" - hate those people. I'm okay if they want to seek Darwin, I'm not okay with them inconveniencing others while they wait.

Especially hate those people who stroll in parking lots, eyes glued to their phone, when there is a perfectly good sidewalk just steps away. Or those that just cut across parking lot corners to go from side walk to sidewalk, blocking people who are driving looking for a spot.

you wouldn't last four blocks in Iowa City, Iowa.

They college kids there don't even know what an intersection or cross walk is !
let alone looking for vehicle's .

walk /don't walk lights ?

biggest waste of money in the city

bicycler's are a little more cautious, but only a little.

In Taipei the red walk sign means to hide, the green one means to look and run.

90% of the crosswalk public in KY would be taken out in the first 30 minutes of the day.

Even better than the ones who stop are the ones who make eye contact as well. When they make eye contact, I get to be a gentleman and wave them on. Walk in front of me, without stopping, or eye contact and with your phone glued to your ear and you get the V-Tail treatment.

I grew up in Detroit, Michigan in the 1940s and 1950s. Streets were for cars! Crosswalks only existed at controlled intersections (signals or school zones with safety guards). Crossing a street unassisted (by signal or guard) was strictly on oneself--I walked a lot to the center line of a street when the near lane was clear and then waited until the far lane cleared to continue across: that was the expected method back then.

When USAF put me in California some years later, I was astonished to see the results of their crosswalk laws: people would just step off the sidewalk into the street without even looking, fully expecting all the cars to screech to a stop and let them cross safely. I thought that any of those California folks moving to Detroit wouldn't last a day--they'd get creamed because they didn't have the right-of-way there.

It is stupidity to believe that a 3000-lb automobile can make an instantaneous stop to avoid hitting someone who just steps out in front it it--the laws of Physics just don't work that way. (I'm glad I grew up in Detroit, where the laws of Physics were respected.)

flashguy

LOL There is a middle school by me that before and after school perhaps only about 10 - 15% of the kids will even look up from their smart phones before crossing the street. Most never look up all the way across 4 lanes, 2 each direction. It is shocking to see.

It's common sense. I'll lose every contest with a car no matter how much I have right of way.

quote:

Originally posted by berto:
It's common sense. I'll lose every contest with a car no matter how much I have right of way.

How many people today have any common sense? Common sense typically results from experiencing (or at least observing) negative consequences of actions, and modern society is curtailing negative consequences.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Censored:
In Taipei the red walk sign means to hide, the green one means to look and run.

90% of the crosswalk public in KY would be taken out in the first 30 minutes of the day.

No shit, the Taiwanese exported this charming dance to Shenzhen when they set up shop there.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Yes.
And walk briskly. You want to stroll, go to the park.

Pedestrians in the store parking lot who take the looonnng diagonal from the store to their care really piss me off. Cross the damn drive first, then make a left and go find your car.
 

A couple years back some people in a town here, Paia, requested that the police do something about cars not stopping for pedestrians. They weren’t all that happy when the results came in and most of the tickets were written for ignoring crosswalks and walking into traffic without looking.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Yes.
And walk briskly. You want to stroll, go to the park.

Pedestrians in the store parking lot who take the looonnng diagonal from the store to their care really piss me off. Cross the damn drive first, then make a left and go find your car.
 

Back in the 19 aught 76 time-frame, I was the "Death Race" king in the arcades.




Go ahead. I have a pocket full of quarters, and I'm on a roll...

I don't cross without making eye contact with drivers.

quote:

Back in the 19 aught 76 time-frame, I was the "Death Race" king in the arcades.

they had electricity then ?

There are regional differences. In general cars will stop for you in California, in New York probably not. I was trained to stop look both ways and proceed cautiously. If you grow up in a large city this sort of thing is part of your childhood socialization.