You're so important, other vehicles MUST be stopped for you, right?

[Phantasmagoria]

I was the passenger in my friend's car yesterday. We were driving on the main road through one of the local villages, pulling a trailer. The speed limit was 30mph, but the road is very narrow with tight corners, so the traffic mostly travels at 20-25. There is a zebra crossing in the middle of the village, and we saw a little boy (maybe 8ish years old?) with a little scooter waiting to cross the road, so we stopped, as you are required to do when a pedestrian is waiting to cross.

I am so glad I'm recounting a near miss and not a horrific accident.

Because Mr 'I'm so Damn Important in my Black Audi' decided we could not possibly be stopped for a pedestrian. We must have pulled up on a narrow village road for him to overtake, because no one else in the world has anywhere to be. So as the little boy stepped out onto the crossing this total F*CKWIT pulls out and goes flying through! The kid managed to reach the opposite pavement in time, but I still have goosebumps writing this today, it was that close.

And did he stop? Of course not, he had somewhere IMPORTANT to go to. He even had the temerity to wave a thankyou at my friend as he whizzed past. She absolutely flipped her lid and he looked really confused. I'm not even sure he SAW the little boy running to get out of his way! On the zebra crossing! Where he had every right to be!

[RealUnimportant]

I was in the front seats, top deck, of a London bus a few years back. We were at a 4-way traffic lights stop when we heard sirens, so despite us having the green light the bus stayed where it was to allow a paramedic on a motorbike get past...

...only for him to get T-boned by a MINI convertible coming from the right, against the lights. The driver had assumed that, since we weren't moving, that they must have right of way. I guess they didn't hear the sirens at all.

Luckily the rider wasn't seriously injured, but he left a fantastic dent in the bonnet of the MINI, and of course at least one other life could have been endangered because he couldn't continue on his emergency mission.

[XCashier]

I may have told this story before, but on a visit to New York, we had to stop at an intersection despite having a green light, because traffic was backed up all the way to the intersection and New York has a "don't block the box" rule.

As we couldn't go through, the fellow in the left turn lane across from us started to go through. Idiot behind us passed us on the right, on the sidewalk, and crashed into the left-turning vehicle! Then he tried to blame us for the accident! Sorry dude, you screwed up, not us!

Folks, if someone is stopped at a green light / crosswalk / middle of the street, there is probably a very good reason for it. Look before you zoom past!