Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> Once again as I walked to the train station this morning I was nearly
> run down, this time by a young Asian female driver. This occurred at
> an intersection adjacent to the one where the MFFY flip-over
> colllision occurred last week (look for that one in tomorrow's Irvine
> World News, BTW).
>
> At this intersection, a local collector road intersects with a
> frontage road next to a freeway. Cars coming from the residential
> neighborhoods in Tustin Ranch stack up in the dedicated right turn
> lane at this intersection, waiting impatiently for an opportunity to
> turn right and then make an immediate left lane change to get to the
> freeway on-ramp. These cars are usually unable to turn right on red
> because they are pinned down by heavy cross-traffic, so when they get
> the green light they are super-anxious to get moving again. It's not
> uncommon for 4 or 5 vehicles to cut across my path as I walk through
> the clearly marked crosswalk, even though technically they are
> required to yield.
>
> The real problem is the drivers a few cars back; while they are
> farther back in the line, their view of the intersection is partially
> blocked. On more than one occasion one of the drivers 4 or 5 cars back
> has honked their horn because the lead car has stopped to give me the
> right-of-way.
>
> This morning the first few cars in the stack cut in front of me as
> usual, but this little Asian cupcake was too busy staring at the back
> bumper of the pickup truck in front of her to notice that I was in the
> crosswalk directly in front of her car. When she finally saw me, she
> slammed on her brakes, and I gave her my best "WTF" expression. She
> waved an apology, so I let her off the hook with no further
> punishment.
>
> But this made me realize one more reason why drivers just don't see
> pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and motorcyclists: they are looking at the
> bumper of the car in front, or a spot on the ground 12 feet in front
> of their car, or off to their left checking for cross-traffic -
> anywhere but the actual direction their car is travelling.
> --
> What the heck, I'll play too.
> - Dave

I've often thought that people who walk a lot along busy streets should
wear one of those hunter caps in that wild orange color.

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> On 25 Jan 2006 22:31:32 -0800, "Laura Bush murdered her boy friend"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>I've often thought that people who walk a lot along busy streets should
>>wear one of those hunter caps in that wild orange color.
>
>
> Around here that cap would need a strobe light on it.

Why not a hardhat with blue and red emergency lights? Ought to be legal
as long as you don't wear it while driving... :-) Seriously though, an
orange safety vest might not be such a bad idea. It ****es me off when
people with dark clothes walk straight out in traffic expecting drivers
to see them when it's dark and raining/snowing...


Ulf

Ulf wrote:
> Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> > On 25 Jan 2006 22:31:32 -0800, "Laura Bush murdered her boy friend"
> > > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>I've often thought that people who walk a lot along busy streets should
> >>wear one of those hunter caps in that wild orange color.
> >
> >
> > Around here that cap would need a strobe light on it.
>
> Why not a hardhat with blue and red emergency lights? Ought to be legal
> as long as you don't wear it while driving... :-) Seriously though, an
> orange safety vest might not be such a bad idea. It ****es me off when
> people with dark clothes walk straight out in traffic expecting drivers
> to see them when it's dark and raining/snowing...

That happened to me a few years ago. Some beyatch was dressed in black
and crossing a street at night. It was at an intersection but there
was no crosswalk and i wasn't expecting to see a ped. Fortunately she
was white and i saw her face and hit the brakes in time.