Last night I took a long walk. I came up to a corner, & (although it was late and I probably could've gone right across) I pushed the button for the 'WALK'-sign. When the 'WALK'-sign lit up, I STARTED to walk quickly across the street. But I was stopped-short by a car making a right-turn in front of me ... which would've killed me had I not been disabled by a car that hit me when I WAS running in 1995. Drivers Kill Runners, and nobody cares?
Not sure how frequent this is there, but I think this is a super rare occurrence, I always see cars stopping for pedestrians to cross the road as long as the walk sign is lit up. Both when I'm walking and when I'm driving. You said it was last night, perhaps it was too dark and you had dark clothes, making it hard to see you? I don't understand what you mean by an accident in 1995 saving you last night though...
That's scary; you have to be careful. People should be paying attention. In my experience, most people DO pay attention. I guess it only takes one person who isn't paying attention to cause a serious injury, though.
If I hadn't been injured in that accident (and were still going home on foot), I would've been running & would've darted right out in front of that car. MAYBE I was 'too dark' (black shorts, dark t-shirt, black shoes ... with light-tan white skin, wearing a shiny red emergency-pancho, and white socks ), but drivers should be more careful. I understand 'the car didn't actually touch me' & 'even if it had, there's nothin` we can do about it now.' It's just that my peace is disturbed, and I'm wanting Society to PAY ME a 'Disturbance of the Peace'-fine.
I doubt anyone will be paying you anything, unfortunately. I do wish that people would be more careful. My BF saw a little girl dart out in the street (her mom was holding her hand, but I guess she jerked away really fast and started taking off across the road to some other kids). She got hit and killed. I can't imagine how traumatizing that was for everyone involved, including my BF, who said he sees it in his head sometimes when he closes his eyes and tries to sleep. Everyone should pay more attention when they know that pedestrians are around.
It goes both ways. I have seen plenty of pedestrians think they don't have to obey signals and just expect traffic to stop. Of course, the traffic should stop because thousands of pounds of metal are no match for even 200 pounds of flesh. I walk everywhere around our city because it is so small. I've rarely ever noticed drivers and pedestrians not paying attention. It just sticks in our heads more when it happens to us because of the emotional response we have.
I do research on personal injury cases for a company as my part time job. I have been seeing more cases of cars hitting people walking more than I use too. Car drivers are not paying attention and obeying the law to yield the right of way to walkers. People are careless and not looking at what they are doing and walking into the street, looking at their cell phones instead of what they are doing. So both are quilty, put the phones down and pay attention to what you are doing. Drivers need to give the right away to avoid striking another person.
You weren't killed, though. I'm not saying it's your fault, but not every driver is like this. A lot of people aren't used to cross-walks, there's only a few in my town and that's in our small downtown area. It was late, and I see more runners/walkers out during the day time than at night. So no, it wasn't your fault, but it's also not something to assume happens to everyone every time they walk across a road. It's also possible the sign malfunctioned and the driver didn't know. The one downtown rarely works and no one has gotten hit yet. I'm glad you stopped in time, though, but you're not going to be paid anything for this.
Did you manage to get the registration number? In the UK all traffic lights are fitted with CCTV cameras to track vehicles who think it is OK to jump red lights. In the UK you hear ads asking drivers of cars and vans to watch out for bikers, but you don't hear about them asking them to look out for runners and walkers, especially when they are driving through places like a public park or going too fast to stop at a stop sign!
That's what 'grinds my gears' about this instance: I DID "obey the signal," so I SHOULD HAVE expected the cars to stop. DISTURBS MY PEACE because there were SO FEW CARS OUT THERE that I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO stand & wait for the signal---there was PLENTY OF TIME WITH NOOOOOOOO CARS PASSING that I could've crossed! I know Oklahoma City doesn't have it like (comedian David Spade says) it is in L.A. or like it's rumored to be in Europe, where drivers are so cautious that they'll make an effort to slow down or -to stop if it even LOOKS LIKE a pedestrian might try to cross. It's because 'people don't walk to places in Oklahoma City.' That's how OKC (the metro of which Warr Acres is a suburb) is DESIGNED---"City Sprawl," in which businesses are 'a car-drive' from homes that are 'a car-drive' from restaurants etc. I've seen maybe a dozen other pedestrians (one-at-a-time over the years), and in the same space thousands/millions of driving vehicles. Heck, there are five-or-six places that SELL the metal-beasts ON THE BLOCK-OF-ROAD BEHIND MY APARTMENT. They KILLED me, and yet their industry flourishes; I DEFEATED DEATH, and they don't respect me for it! (Same reason Jesus was better-off 'passed-away,' why He didn't submit to living life again after He rose again.) How do I get my reward from them? Don't do that; I WAS paying attention to the signal. I had pushed the signal-button & waited for it to change. The signal cleared me to walk. Shouldn't we make it illegal to turn right on red? I know 'it rarely happens that a pedestrian is crossing on the right side of the road,' but it only takes ONE to kill ya! Wrong. Well 'Right' if I'm looking to get paid 'money'; but I'm looking to get paid in 'bureaucratic effort' and/or 'respect for pedestrians.' I should've gotten the 'number' (registration number, is that like a "license-plate number"). I guess I was more-interested in 'solving it then & there,' thinking the people would stop, get out & apologize-or-something ... pshh & maybe that glass slipper'll fit my princess! --- Anyway, I was asking this because (I don't know if I said above) I stopped by the Bethany PD to see if I could register my complaint THERE (I LIVE in Warr Acres, but don't even know where their PDHQ is!), but--since the incident was in Warr Acres--the officer on duty could do nothing but give me the Warr Acres police's number (1-405-789-3329), But I don't know what to say. I feel that I should 'take my complaint' somewhere else, because cops are only about "justice" in the movies. In Real Life they're only about 'keeping-down citizen-uprisings etc.'
Hmmm...I see pedestrians taking over more often than cars. People think they just walk wherever and however they please without even bothering to look up from their cellphones to check for traffic.
And they can! True, they're 'at risk' of being hit by careless drivers ... 'careless drivers:' don't we have a whole testing-&-licensing program to ensure there are NOT any 'careless drivers'? And Why do they go through with the process? to AVOID being pedestrians. Not because it's "dangerous" to be a pedestrian, but because being a pedestrian is HARD WORK! Pedestrians 'have to be somewhere' just as urgently as driverss do, but WE have got to battle the elements and our own exhaustion first! Drivers--I understand they have to pay for insurance & gas & vehicle-upkeep, but--get to relatively 'laze-out' on their way to wherever they go!
I have this same problem. I live in Southern California and I walk a lot. Not a day goes by that some driver comes close to hitting me. They are either not looking both ways before turning, don't even slow down or talking on the phone. It's illegal to use a handset while driving here, but that doesn't stop people. I used to get so upset, now I just feel blessed that I was hit by some stupid driver. I have been thinking about some type of phone app where one can take a picture of a reckless driver and is forwarded directly to the police.
I hope you mean "wasn't hit by some stupid driver"! Unless you were hit by a stupid driver, and now you wisely wait for and absolutely clear walkway (no cars even THINKING of coming) before you cross a street. That brings me to what happened to 'grind my gears' today. While I was waiting to cross the street, some van--rather than 'stopping and waiting for me to cross'--passed by within TWO FEET of me! NO! WHEN I AM STANDING STILL ON THE ROADSIDE, EITHER STOP OR PULL ME IN FOR LOITERING!
No, I do still think it's critical to have to look both ways and pay attention when you're walking. If it's your turn to go and someone almost hits you, that's horrible. If it's NOT your turn to go and someone almost hits you, it's still terrible, but you have to at least take some sort of responsibility. I guess we all have somewhere to be, ya know?
Honestly, this has happened to me once and trust me, the driver's intent wasn't to run you over. It wasn't my intent either. When I come to a stop light to make a turn there are times when people are standing next to the crossing light. Majority of the time I can see them, but there are times I don't notice them standing there. I have stopped dead in front of someone crossing the street because they started moving along at the same time. The one thing I hate about the street lights where I live is that when the light turns green, so does the pedestrian's light. That NEVER made any sort of sense to me.
So when the light turns green for the cars to go ahead, it also turns green for the pedestrians to cross in front of them? That's literally the opposite of what it's supposed to do, it must either be malfunctioning or it was installed by someone who has no idea how stoplights work. Have you ever notified the authorities of this?
She's talking about 'the right-turn on green'-rule. When someone is crossing on the right side of the road, there's no difference in the traffic-lights to indicate that the 'right-turners' need to wait a while. That's why it's best to stick to the left side of the road when you're walking (so that there's no danger of 'right-turners' running over you when they think the signal is "all clear!") But they SHOULD change the traffic-lights somehow then ... maybe make the far-right light light-up 'yellow' when I'm walkin` there! (Because sometimes it's more-convenient for ME to be walking on the righht side of the street!)
