road = vehicles

[muppet101]

Dear pedestrians of my city: the authorities very kindly provide you with pavements (or sidewalks if you prefer) for free. That's right there's no charge for you to use them. They may not be guaranteed free of doggy doo but on the whole they are clean, secure and safe.


So get out of the freaking way of the cars, trucks, busses and other vehicles in the street/ road!

[blas]

But, why should they walk on the sidewalk? It's so much more fun to see if you're paying attention while drving, so they dart out and run at you!

[DGoddessChardonnay]

But, why should they walk on the sidewalk? It's so much more fun to see if you're paying attention while drving, so they dart out and run at you!

And Dog Forbid you suggest to them that they can use either a marked crosswalk OR *gasp* push the button for the pedestrian crossing at an interesection.

The sheer horror of having to walk an extra 10 feet or so to use the crosswalk,

[bainsidhe]

Let's not forget the parents crossing against the light with a stroller or small child in tow. Or the 3 year olds riding a tricycle in front of their home, veering into the street and no adult in sight. Or the teens that play street basketball every single day and don't bother to pause or move for oncoming traffic. Yeah, my street is awesome.

[Kristev]

Do you live on Stressame Street?

[blas]

Oh yes, people taking walks/jogs with balls.

I vented here once before about someone who was going for a jog, all the while kicking a soccer ball along the way. I feared any moment that ball was going straight into the road and at my car.

Then there's the idiot groups of kids running around with basketballs, passing them back and forth to each other, not watching traffic.

And the "Family Walk Time" people, Mommy and Daddy walking with their little kids on their bikes and trikes, of course neither kid is actually listening to mom and dad or riding the way they are supposed to, so Mom and Dad cross the street merrily ignoring Junior and Betsy who are peddling in the middle of the road.

[Opalin]

My mom and Dad are actually both guilty of this (though on bikes, not running), and they claim the logic is if they're in the road then they won't get hit by cars coming out of side streets who aren't looking to see if someone's crossing. (rural areas, no sidewalk crossing points where they're speaking of) I personally don't believe them, but... Just throwing in their two cents.

[PepperElf]

Well... I can say that is a danger sometimes. One of my shipmates from my first ship was running on base on the sidewalk. She got lightly hit (tapped) by a car not paying attention to the road. Left her a nice headlight-bruise on her leg.


And yeah where I live we don't have sidewalks period. So when we take the dog for a walk we have to be very mindful of the traffic... although it's not that bad cos we only walk her on the quiet side streets where there's little traffic or a limit of 25 etc.

[dragon_wings]

Last night I just about hit a dumbass on a bike. It was dusk and I was slowing down at a red light to make a right turn when I see this thing whip in front of me. I slammed on my breaks and started cursing. He was wearing dark clothes, the dumbass. He turned right a the intersection then promptly cut left across that street to enter the parking lot of the gas station on the corner. Never have I had that happen before.

[wolfie]

A couple years ago I nearly hit a dumbass cyclist. Picture a winding, 2-lane road with a 55 MPH speed limit. The shoulders are very narrow (a car with its left wheels on the fog line would be halfway into the ditch). A cyclist is standing on the shoulder (partway onto the fog line), with his bike "outboard" of him (i.e. an obstacle if he has to make a quick jump into the ditch). It was night, the bike had no reflectors/lights, and he was wearing dark clothing. I had over 40,000 pounds of cargo in the trailer. Saw him barely in time to avoid scratching the chrome on my bumper.

[dalesys]

...Saw him barely in time to avoid scratching the chrome on my bumper.

What's that in your grill?
Moth.
Looks like a cyclist?
Nah. Had the brain DNA tested and it came back as bug.

[Titi]

Ummm, Muppet? As a lifelong pedestrian I have to ask are the sidewalks on both sides of the road? If there aren't then I can understand at times why the pedestrian would choose to walk in the road. It's called the quickest way home.

[Draper Mel]

My favorite is the group of teenagers who walk in the middle of the street or start crossing, very slowly, on a diagonal, and barely acknowledge that there are cars trying to get by. Ooh, badass!

[PepperElf]

Ummm, Muppet? As a lifelong pedestrian I have to ask are the sidewalks on both sides of the road? If there aren't then I can understand at times why the pedestrian would choose to walk in the road. It's called the quickest way home.

Or in the winter... in my hometown people didn't shovel their sidewalks like they were suppose to so... people had to walk in the road.

[protege]

Or in the winter... in my hometown people didn't shovel their sidewalks like they were suppose to so... people had to walk in the road.

In that case, I'm somewhat understanding. We got 3 feet of snow here a couple of years ago. 3 feet of snow, meant that many suburban streets were down a lane or two. Some of it was simply because there was nowhere to put it, but also because some people couldn't be bothered to dig their damn cars out. Not all of that was laziness either. Sure, you could dig out a car...but where would you put it? Not everyone has off-street parking...and even if they did, they had to dig that out too!

But, the people that piss me off, are the idiots who *insist* on walking down the middle of the street, when there are empty sidewalks nearby. Quite a few of them either *refuse* to move, or then scream at oncoming traffic. Seriously? Get the hell out of the street, you morons!