Attention Pedestrians!

[Jester]

CUT THIS SHIT OUT!

Seriously. I'm driving home today, and am stopped at a red light at an intersection of two major (for downtown Key West) streets. While stopped behind one other car, I notice a group of pedestrians on the corner, seemingly trying to figure out where they were going, whether to go left (the way I was going) or forward (across the street I was on). Finally, after some discussion and thought, they start forward, across the street I was on....right as the light I was facing turned GREEN. Thus meaning, of course, that the light facing them as they crossed was RED.

In other words, while they had plenty of time to cross my street while the light was in their favor, they actually managed to wait until it turned, and THEN started crossing the street, in the process blocking at least two cars (me and the one in front of me) from moving legally through the light, as we should have been.

Listen, fucktards, if you want to live life dangerously, do it on your own time, and try not to involve the rest of us by blatantly ignoring obvious traffic laws--like, say RED FUCKING LIGHTS. Because eventually someone is going to be less nice than the car in front of me and/or less prevented by the legal repercussion from acting on their impulse than I was, or possibly just as MENTALLY VACUOUS AS YOU, and they are going to hit the gas and run you the fuck over.

I bring this up not just because this happened today. I bring it up because it, in various forms, happens ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Just the other day I saw a jogger on the MAIN THOROUGHFARE cross against the light, effectively blocking several cars from crossing while she blindly just jogged along. I don't know that she even looked at the light, just jogged on through. Which makes me wonder....WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU PEOPLE LOOKING AT THE LIGHTS? I had this shit BEATEN into me as a child, that you DON'T FUCKING CROSS against the light or you will DIE!!!

Now, with the jogger, you could always say she wasn't paying attention, she was caught up in her music (she was wearing headphones), etc. That doesn't excuse her ignoring standard safety procedures--like not crossing a major street while several multi-ton vehicles bear down on you--but in today's example, there were FOUR people. Presumably ONE of them had some small shred of common sense and should have said, "Hey, morons....are you trying to get us all killed?"

And it gets worse. I've seen parents doing this with their kids, with strollers, with babys, with toddlers....not just endangering their children, but basically teaching the ones old enough to walk on their own that it's perfectly fine to run into traffic against the light, as long as you get across before you get run down.

Seriously...and this is totally a rhetorical question, as I've been in the food service industry too long to expect intelligence from the human race--what the flying fuck is WRONG with people?!?!?!?!

Tell me again why I am not allowed machine gun turrets on my fenders.......

[lupo pazzesco]

I have the opposite problem as a pedestrian. I'm almost always dashing because some idiot is driving and turning right, so they only look LEFT. And never check the other side, so I start walking WITH the correct signal, and instead nearly get turned into a smear on the pavement.

Shit, that's how I ended up getting hit by a car while walking before, this woman was turning left, and told the cops that she thought *I* was going to stop because she was going faster than me...

On behalf of pedestrians I apologize for the fucktards that give the rest of us a bad name, Jester.

[Etna]

People take the "pedestrians always have the right of way" to the point of idiocy. Somehow the consequences of cutting off a giant metal death machine never seems to come into their minds. I've never had anyone be idiotic enough to try it on a crosswalk but I get that **** all the time in parking lots, grr!

[Cazzi]

I don't drive. I also don't risk my life tangling with big metal monsters either. Getting pushed into the road & hit by a car when I was a little one taught me that they are not to be tangled with.

What really makes me see red to the point of wanting to slap someone though is parents who stand on the footpath waiting to cross a busy road... with the pushchair off the footpath & in the gutter!

I'm sure their toddlers really love big scary things passing by inches from their noses!

[Andara Bledin]

And it gets worse. I've seen parents doing this with their kids, with strollers, with babys, with toddlers....not just endangering their children, but basically teaching the ones old enough to walk on their own that it's perfectly fine to run into traffic against the light, as long as you get across before you get run down.

I yell at these people. Seriously. I do. People with little kids who jaywalk, particularly when they're not far from a proper crossing point, piss me right the fuck off.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

I have the opposite problem as a pedestrian. I'm almost always dashing because some idiot is driving and turning right, so they only look LEFT. And never check the other side, so I start walking WITH the correct signal, and instead nearly get turned into a smear on the pavement.

That's how my nephew got hit by a car when riding his bike once. The lady who hit him was taking a right on red and only looked to her left.

And sometimes they don't even have THAT excuse. My BF and I were crossing a road in the <big city> here and had the "walk" light. Unfortunately the cars in our lane also had a green light and a "left turn" arrow. The only reason the car stopped for us was because the cop behind them beeped the siren as a warning.


But yes, some other pedestrians are fuckheads who are just playing russian roulette. Only instead of guns & bullets they're crossing roads loaded with multiple 2000+ pound vehicles at various speeds.

I mean sure I don't hate jaywalking - around here we have no sidewalks or crosswalks so there's just that for an option - but not looking for traffic while on the side of the road or crossing = stupid.

[Barracuda]

I once had a pedestrian slowly stroll out in front of me (there WAS no crosswalk there.) I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them (they didn't even look to see if cars were coming, and they were walking pretty slowly.) After I stopped, and honked angrily at her, she had the nerve to flip ME off! People are really obnoxious!

[pitmonkey]

For me the frustration is when church lets out. There is over flow parking across a busy street with a light and crosswalk about 1/2 a block away, instead of walking up there they will cross with ever one leaving not only our church but the one about 3 bocks away as well as all the other traffic. This is with little children. The church has tried many times to get people to use the crosswalk to no avail. It was once hinted that the local police were gong to hand out tickets for j-walking but did not help.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Tell me again why I am not allowed machine gun turrets on my fenders.......

For the same reason I am not allowed to weld double chainsaws on mine.

[MoonCat]

I once saw a woman get hit by a motorcycle because she crossed in the middle of the street. When your mama taught you not to do that, she had a damn good reason!

[wolfie]

Tell me again why I am not allowed machine gun turrets on my fenders.......

Because the empties and links they'd spit out would cause too much litter.

Only instead of guns & bullets they're crossing roads loaded with multiple 2000+ pound vehicles at various speeds.

Sad to say, the total ignorance of people on the wrong end of an order-of-magnitude weight difference doesn't only apply to pedestrians. To use a poker analogy, for a lot of 4-wheelers I see their ton of steel and raise them 30.

The church has tried many times to get people to use the crosswalk to no avail. It was once hinted that the local police were gong to hand out tickets for j-walking but did not help.

In North America, the use of the term "Church" (as opposed to some other term) to refer to a house of worship implies that it belongs to a certain family of religions (one of the 3 Mosaic families). Those jaywalkers need to learn that the reason it's called a CROSSwalk is that it's what you're supposed to use when Church lets out.

[Jester]

My frustration with others on the road is not limited to pedestrians, but extends to anyone who is interacting with me on the road and is clearly not thinking or is acting in an idiotic way. This includes a lot of people on bicycles (and I am a cyclist, for the record), and other drivers. I especially hate people driving large vehicles who clearly have no idea what they are doing.

Just yesterday, in fact, I was driving down a street and saw a huge bus-type vehicle very slllooooowwwwwllllyyy making a turn on to the road in front of me, and was already to get frustrated once again.....when I saw it was the Bloodmobile. And I had all the patience in the world. Because I don't care if the people driving the Bloodmobile are slow, or may not know exactly how to drive their large vehicle as well as they could, because the work they do is damn important, and I am not about to be so shallow and self-centered as to get on them for being overly cautious in a moving blood bank. Yes, there are exceptions to everything, and the Bloodmobile gets a free pass from me, period. No matter how frustrated I might get from any other vehicle doing the exact same thing. It's the Bloodmobile. That automatically trumps everything in my book.

[Lace Neil Singer]

People take the "pedestrians always have the right of way" to the point of idiocy. Somehow the consequences of cutting off a giant metal death machine never seems to come into their minds. I've never had anyone be idiotic enough to try it on a crosswalk but I get that **** all the time in parking lots, grr!

Back when I was riding my motorbike, I once had to dodge round a dickhead who stepped off the pavement right in front of me. I swerved around him, pulled to a stop and shouted, "If I was driving a car, you'd be fucking dead!" His defence? "I didn't realise that motorbikes went that fast!" Jeez; even the slowest scooter goes at thirty miles an hour, which is going to cause a pedestrian some damage should they step out in front of it.

As for "pedestrians have the right of way", back when I rode my bike, I was always having to yield when it was my right of way. I did this cuz I quite enjoyed being alive and wanted to stay that way.

[jadabella]

A couple of Christmases ago, I got an early present.

A friend and I were driving in the vicinity of the mall (a very bad idea at that time of year - what were we thinking). We were stopped, first car in line at a red light, so I got a front row seat to the fun.

The light was green for the oncoming left-turners. It was long enough that probably 10 or more cars should have been able to get through. But no, Moseying Matilda was crossing, against the light, very slowly since there was snow on the ground. Only about 4 cars were able to make it though.

But...

The last car that made it through was a police car. And he stopped to have a word with Miss MM. I freaking love instant karma.

[kpzra]

In Nevada pedestrians have the right of way in MARKED crosswalks only (they still have to obey the signs at intersections) at crossings where there are no lights. The main road through this town is actually a highway that although it slows to 25mph, is still a highway. It is a main trucking route to Vegas.

Now, my problem is the idiots who just walk across the 5 lanes where ever they want. Having a PA in a vehicle is fun sometimes. I like to remind them it is not marked where they are walking and we don't have to stop. Mean, maybe but they are just luck I don't hit the siren on accident.