I learned that pedestrians walk against traffic, bicycle riders ride with traffic. Lately, though, all I see is the opposite. I've been extra vigilant because I'm afraid I'm going to hit someone!
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I learned that pedestrians walk against traffic, bicycle riders ride with traffic. Lately, though, all I see is the opposite. I've been extra vigilant because I'm afraid I'm going to hit someone!
When I was a kid (many, many moons ago :eek:), we always rode bikes against traffic so we could see what was coming. Not sure what the walking rules were tho, since we always rode our bikes. Frankly, I think the law now of riding with traffic is hazardous, since you obviously can't see what's coming up behind you. :eek:
It may vary according to local law.
But as far as I have been taught, bicycle riders are supposed to obey all the same rules as cars - stop light, signs, etc., and go with the flow of traffic, but pedestrians are not subject to those laws, and just need to be careful. As far as I know, there's no law saying you have to walk in the direction traffic is flowing, or against it. As a pedestrian, though, you need to obey signs and stick to crosswalks when crossing a street. (Not that this happens in the Boston area, where pedestrians seem to think they own the roads!)
In San Francisco bicycle riders ride on the sidewalk and pedestrians cross on a red light directly into the path of traffic - or at least it seems that those are the new rules/laws. I don't get it - doesn't seem safe to me, but everybody does it :rolleyes:
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Originally Posted by RedHedd
Both of those habits are unsafe.IMO. Indy has marked bike lanes in the
streets. Bikes ride with traffic. (same rules)
I KNOW they're unsafe, but pedestrians and bike riders in San Francisco flaunt the laws. I was being facetious, because it's SO prevalent and irks me to no end - they seem to have a death wish.Quote:
Originally Posted by lizbud
There are bike trails here but people ride their bikes on the roads to get to the trails rather than put them on their cars. Whenever I see a bike coming at me rather than going w/the flow of traffic, it's frightening. They are supposed to obey the same laws as for cars. Pedestrians should always walk towards traffic so that they can see what's coming but they seem to be walking w/traffic now and that just isn't safe, especially at night. We have dark roads around here, no street lights and the pedestrians hardly ever wear reflective clothing. It scares me to death.
Mary, that's the law as I've always understood it, here anyway, and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where I've also lived. And just like where you live, that doesn't mean that people follow it all that much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
I'm wondering if, God forbid, a pedestrian or biker would get hit by a car because they were on the wrong side of the road, how responsible do you think the driver would be according to the law? I pray it never happens here but w/the kids out of school, they're walking along the roads here a lot and riding their bikes, too, of course on the wrong side of the road.
I have toured by bicycle in a couple of dozen states and without exception bicycles are treated and have to obey the laws just like a car.if there is a bike lane the bicycle is suppose to use it. This is an area that I have seen many violations. A lot of Municipal bike trails have a slow speed limit so the rider will use the street so he doesn't have to slow down. I have actually seen radar used in California on a bike path. These bike paths in most cases are also used by pedestrians. The rational behind the speed limit is to slow the traffic down so as to not scare the people out for a walk or run.
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Originally Posted by lizbud
Same around here.
Worse thing is cars not stopping at pedestrian crossings.
Ok, you brought up another point and I'm glad you did. What about crosswalks? We don't have them here except in strip malls or downtown in cities and I hardly if ever have the need to go there. If a car is moving (slowly, I hope) and it's already partially through a cross walk, pedestrians here think we should stop a several ton moving vehicle for them. I stop before the crosswalk but if there are no pedestrians, obviously I keep going but I have had pedestrians run to get through and I've had to slam on my brakes even though I'm driving slowly. A couple of years ago a man, holding his wife's hand, decided to walk through while I was driving. I kept going thinking that he'd realize I had to but he didn't and he stopped right in front of my car. I got out of my car and he and his wife ran inside the store so that tells me that he knew he was wrong. I see mothers doing this w/their toddlers a lot and I just wonder why they feel the necessity to take such a risk w/their childrens' precious lives. What say you?Quote:
Originally Posted by K9karen
ETA: I forgot to mention here that the reason I got out of my car is because after he stopped in front of it, he actually punched the hood of my car!
In every state that i have driven in, And that is all in the contiguous 48, the law says cars are suppose to stop for pedestrians in cross walks. The Laws in California are so strict if you go through a pedestrian or Bike crossing you receive a very hefty fine. Medusa, although he had no right to hit your car he did have the right of way even if it was at Walmart. Stopping
is not optional, it is the law everywhere.
That's the part I don't get, I guess. Common sense says that when a car is halfway through the cross walk, pedestrians should wait until it goes the rest of the way through, not force the driver to stop his car because the pedestrian couldn't wait 2 or 3 seconds to walk across. Pedestrians challenge drivers and I fear that one is going to get seriously injured because of it. I know pedestrians have the right of way but it should mean that when a car is approaching and pedestrians are there, ready to cross, then the driver should wait. It's just plain foolish to walk in front of a moving vehicle.Quote:
Originally Posted by kokopup
The Main problem I see with Store cross walks is they are so wide that the walk can be clear when you enter the crosswalk and then someone shows up when you are halfway across a 50' cross area. i agree that the approaching people should wait for you since you were already in the walk before they exit the store. I will stop if someone approaches and
they would be in front of me before i could get there. I do not stop if they approach and would be beside me if I continued. Common sense should prevail but it often does not. There are those that will rush to make you stop and then slow down just to show they are in control. These are the same people who would be a pain if they were on a public forum.:rolleyes:
Yes, that's exactly my point, kokopup! You explained it better than I did. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by kokopup
No crosswalks at all? I find that very strange.Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
In San Francisco they've started painting "limit lines" at cross-walks; whereas in the past drivers were supposed to stop behind the cross-walk lines, now we're supposed to stop behind the limit lines. I had points taking off a driving test when the examiner commented that not even a license plate screw head is to be over the limit line.
Of course, pedestrians in San Francisco seem to be oblivious as to the laws and walk wherever and whenever they please, taunting the cars to hit them.
I also don't understand the standing in the cross-walk off the curb while waiting for a light to change - it impedes drivers from making legal turns and endangers the pedestrian, but they don't seem to care.
Well, in this part of Ohio we have crosswalks. I walk a lot, and I can tell you that 95% of the time people do NOT stop for me at a crosswalk, or in a crosswalk. I can be with my son in a stroller, and people fly by as if I am invisible. The worst offenders? Middle-aged caucasian women- by far.Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
My friend and I were out walking in March and each had our child in a jogger, and she had two dogs flanking her jogger. We were- no flipping lie- on the corner, AT a crosswalk, in plain view of a police cruiser....not one car stopped. I said something to the cop and he said, "we have no law to enforce that". WHAT? WHAT? You lazy cop....:rolleyes:
I cannot understand people in cars that think they have this "right" to ignore others on or about the roadway. You would think they would slow it down, and grant the right of way, especially when in all but the most unusual circumstances they would be found at fault.
As I said, downtown there are crosswalks but I don't go there at all. I'm talking about crosswalks in strip malls that pedestrians decide to cross when a car is halfway through it. I always give pedestrians the right of way but if they're nowhere near the crosswalk, for ex., walking from their parked cars toward it, I slowly inch my car through. Inevitably, though, a pedestrian will decide to run in front of my car, many times not even in the crosswalk and then decide to do a dead stop and stare at me, challenging me. I still don't understand why a mother holding her toddler's hand or pushing one in a stroller would take such a chance but I see it a lot.
One afternoon I was about to walk across the street-- Mass. Ave. in Harvard Square, one-way and VERY busy. I looked in the direction the traffic was coming from and it was clear enough to go, so I started across... and WHAMO! I got hit and knocked right over by some idiot going the wrong way on a bike! And did this clown stop to help me up or see if I was all right? NOOOOooo... she just kept right on riding as fast as she could. GRRRRrrrr.. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Medusa
Wow, I'm sorry that happened to you, Pat. This is just the type of incident that I'm afraid of.Quote:
Originally Posted by phesina
Fortunately I wasn't hurt, but boy was I p*ssed!
What you may not realize, the rest of the universe, is that this is typical of bicyclists in Harvard Square. One pass through Harvard Square in the morning - on foot or by car - will make one despise bicyclists. They act as if they own the road, and sometimes the sidewalk, and laws do not apply to them. It's awful!Quote:
Originally Posted by phesina
Go another mile down Mass Ave., and you're in Central Square, where pedestrians normally are compelled to walk in front of cars, but when it's raining, they RUN into moving traffic - just when the roads are wet enough so you may skid a bit ... NOT for the faint of heart.
You're absolutely right about that, Karen. I really hated them there, not the bike riders who followed the laws and common courtesy but the ones who were so arrogant and holier-than-thou about using pollution-free transportation that they didn't need to give a flying f**k about the rest of the universe.Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen
You get a lot of that type here (Ann Arbor) too, but nothing like Harvard Square!