If you enter the intersection while a pedestrian is crossing, where'd you learn to drive?

[Anonymous]

I know the crosswalk is supposed to be clear but I make a right until 355 from the Rockville Metro everyday. It is 8 lanes wide, No one would make the turn if the whole cross walk was clear. I have literally never seen anyone wait in my 20 years. I give pedestrians wide berth but not all 8 lanes.

[Anonymous]

I nose into the intersection. If you don’t, you will never turn. I’m mindful of pedestrians and their right of way (and am a frequent pedestrian myself)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know the crosswalk is supposed to be clear but I make a right until 355 from the Rockville Metro everyday. It is 8 lanes wide, No one would make the turn if the whole cross walk was clear. I have literally never seen anyone wait in my 20 years. I give pedestrians wide berth but not all 8 lanes.

Just asking for a wide berth. I don't think you're the type that I'd complain about as a pedestrian. It should be clear to me that you're not going to hit me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your time to cross, typically coincides with the car's time to turn. I work in the Farragut West area, if drivers waited for the cross walk to be completely free to turn, MAYBE one car could go with every light change. Traffic would be even worse than it is now.

And for those who intentionally slow down, what is wrong with you? As long as the car isn't doing something illegal (like running a red light) quickly cross so everyone can get where they are going.

These are types of pedestrians who seem to want "But I had the right of way" printed on their tombstones.

Creeping your car up on someone is threatening. If it’s too crowded with people then don’t drive your car there.

DP. I normally give pedestrians really wide birth, I always stop at mid-block crosswalks when people are waiting to cross, etc. My only exception is when I’m trying to make a right turn on green during rush hour downtown. I still keep a safe distance, but will creep forward into the crosswalk as I can in order to make the turn as soon as possible. It’s really not about trying to hurry pedestrians, it’s about traffic being so wretched that drivers doing that to help more cars through the light can mean the difference between a five minute wait to make a turn and a 20 minute wait. That’s meaningful when the person three cars behind you is trying to make a daycare pick-up deadline.

We can all stand to be a little kinder and more understanding toward each other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your time to cross, typically coincides with the car's time to turn. I work in the Farragut West area, if drivers waited for the cross walk to be completely free to turn, MAYBE one car could go with every light change. Traffic would be even worse than it is now.

And for those who intentionally slow down, what is wrong with you? As long as the car isn't doing something illegal (like running a red light) quickly cross so everyone can get where they are going.

These are types of pedestrians who seem to want "But I had the right of way" printed on their tombstones.

Creeping your car up on someone is threatening. If it’s too crowded with people then don’t drive your car there.

DP. I normally give pedestrians really wide birth, I always stop at mid-block crosswalks when people are waiting to cross, etc. My only exception is when I’m trying to make a right turn on green during rush hour downtown. I still keep a safe distance, but will creep forward into the crosswalk as I can in order to make the turn as soon as possible. It’s really not about trying to hurry pedestrians, it’s about traffic being so wretched that drivers doing that to help more cars through the light can mean the difference between a five minute wait to make a turn and a 20 minute wait. That’s meaningful when the person three cars behind you is trying to make a daycare pick-up deadline.

We can all stand to be a little kinder and more understanding toward each other.

It's only a problem when that inching into the crosswalk is not giving people a wide berth. Then you need to plan to leave earlier to make daycare pickup while driving in a crowded city. Take traffic as a fact of life and plan accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your time to cross, typically coincides with the car's time to turn. I work in the Farragut West area, if drivers waited for the cross walk to be completely free to turn, MAYBE one car could go with every light change. Traffic would be even worse than it is now.

And for those who intentionally slow down, what is wrong with you? As long as the car isn't doing something illegal (like running a red light) quickly cross so everyone can get where they are going.

These are types of pedestrians who seem to want "But I had the right of way" printed on their tombstones.

I work in that area too, and every day it’s a toss-up whether the longest part of my commute will be the handful of blocks blocks to New York Avenue (half of which will be waiting to make the right turn onto 17th) or the half mile on the E Street Expressway to the bridge. It’s never the 8 miles after I get to the bridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your time to cross, typically coincides with the car's time to turn. I work in the Farragut West area, if drivers waited for the cross walk to be completely free to turn, MAYBE one car could go with every light change. Traffic would be even worse than it is now.

And for those who intentionally slow down, what is wrong with you? As long as the car isn't doing something illegal (like running a red light) quickly cross so everyone can get where they are going.

These are types of pedestrians who seem to want "But I had the right of way" printed on their tombstones.

Creeping your car up on someone is threatening. If it’s too crowded with people then don’t drive your car there.

DP. I normally give pedestrians really wide birth, I always stop at mid-block crosswalks when people are waiting to cross, etc. My only exception is when I’m trying to make a right turn on green during rush hour downtown. I still keep a safe distance, but will creep forward into the crosswalk as I can in order to make the turn as soon as possible. It’s really not about trying to hurry pedestrians, it’s about traffic being so wretched that drivers doing that to help more cars through the light can mean the difference between a five minute wait to make a turn and a 20 minute wait. That’s meaningful when the person three cars behind you is trying to make a daycare pick-up deadline.

We can all stand to be a little kinder and more understanding toward each other.

It's only a problem when that inching into the crosswalk is not giving people a wide berth. Then you need to plan to leave earlier to make daycare pickup while driving in a crowded city. Take traffic as a fact of life and plan accordingly.

Must be nice to be able to waltz out of the office before 4:30 instead of waiting until 5:00 when your 9.5 mile commute can take upwards of 90 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your time to cross, typically coincides with the car's time to turn. I work in the Farragut West area, if drivers waited for the cross walk to be completely free to turn, MAYBE one car could go with every light change. Traffic would be even worse than it is now.

And for those who intentionally slow down, what is wrong with you? As long as the car isn't doing something illegal (like running a red light) quickly cross so everyone can get where they are going.

These are types of pedestrians who seem to want "But I had the right of way" printed on their tombstones.

I work in that area too, and every day it’s a toss-up whether the longest part of my commute will be the handful of blocks blocks to New York Avenue (half of which will be waiting to make the right turn onto 17th) or the half mile on the E Street Expressway to the bridge. It’s never the 8 miles after I get to the bridge.

Traffic is bad in that area because of all of the people driving to and from work by themselves in a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone in another thread recently brought up how another major city - London maybe? - deals with traffic and pedestrians. When pedestrians have the light to cross, all traffic - in all four directions - stops. So pedestrians cross all at once for 2 minutes or something. That way no car can sneak up on a pedestrian or pretend they aren’t going to hit you. And cars can make turns without have to yield to pedestrians.

Seems so much safer that each group moves without threat of the other being in the way. Clearly that would be a big change for the US but I like the concept.

I LOVE these 4 way stops! And even if you have to wait longer to cross, when traffic stops you can save time by crossing on the diagonal.

Am I remembering correctly that it is a European city that has this approach? I don’t think it’s done in the US. It would definitely take a lot of education and laws to be changed to be pulled off here. No right on red and pedestrians could only be in marked cross walks crossing when they have a light telling them to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone in another thread recently brought up how another major city - London maybe? - deals with traffic and pedestrians. When pedestrians have the light to cross, all traffic - in all four directions - stops. So pedestrians cross all at once for 2 minutes or something. That way no car can sneak up on a pedestrian or pretend they aren’t going to hit you. And cars can make turns without have to yield to pedestrians.

Seems so much safer that each group moves without threat of the other being in the way. Clearly that would be a big change for the US but I like the concept.

I LOVE these 4 way stops! And even if you have to wait longer to cross, when traffic stops you can save time by crossing on the diagonal.

Am I remembering correctly that it is a European city that has this approach? I don’t think it’s done in the US. It would definitely take a lot of education and laws to be changed to be pulled off here. No right on red and pedestrians could only be in marked cross walks crossing when they have a light telling them to.

I remember seeing them in Scotland and my mind was blown. In the past couple years I've seen a few in East Coast cities.

[Anonymous]

Our instinctive responses are fight, fight or freeze. I only cross the road when I have the real sign at marked crosswalk. When there is a car barreling towards me, I can't help it -- I freeze.

So far cars have braked, and I have been able to find crossing the road. I have noticed that cars will brake rather than hit someone or something, but if you run as a pedestrian, cars are not likely to stop or show down and that actually leads to bring hit because the car misjudged the speed. I've seen four pedestrians got that way over a decade of walking in downtown dc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone in another thread recently brought up how another major city - London maybe? - deals with traffic and pedestrians. When pedestrians have the light to cross, all traffic - in all four directions - stops. So pedestrians cross all at once for 2 minutes or something. That way no car can sneak up on a pedestrian or pretend they aren’t going to hit you. And cars can make turns without have to yield to pedestrians.

Seems so much safer that each group moves without threat of the other being in the way. Clearly that would be a big change for the US but I like the concept.

I LOVE these 4 way stops! And even if you have to wait longer to cross, when traffic stops you can save time by crossing on the diagonal.

Am I remembering correctly that it is a European city that has this approach? I don’t think it’s done in the US. It would definitely take a lot of education and laws to be changed to be pulled off here. No right on red and pedestrians could only be in marked cross walks crossing when they have a light telling them to.

Yes, it is. It's called a Barnes Dance, and they even have a few of them in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I have time to turn before you make it across I'm going to

Translation: Maryland

No. I grew up in Bethesda and always stop before the crosswalk. My DH, who grew up in NJ, believes that crosswalks are to sit in while waiting for the light to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone in another thread recently brought up how another major city - London maybe? - deals with traffic and pedestrians. When pedestrians have the light to cross, all traffic - in all four directions - stops. So pedestrians cross all at once for 2 minutes or something. That way no car can sneak up on a pedestrian or pretend they aren’t going to hit you. And cars can make turns without have to yield to pedestrians.

Seems so much safer that each group moves without threat of the other being in the way. Clearly that would be a big change for the US but I like the concept.

I LOVE these 4 way stops! And even if you have to wait longer to cross, when traffic stops you can save time by crossing on the diagonal.

Am I remembering correctly that it is a European city that has this approach? I don’t think it’s done in the US. It would definitely take a lot of education and laws to be changed to be pulled off here. No right on red and pedestrians could only be in marked cross walks crossing when they have a light telling them to.

Yes, it is. It's called a Barnes Dance, and they even have a few of them in DC.

Really? Wow how do they enforce that with the current pedestrian laws in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your time to cross, typically coincides with the car's time to turn. I work in the Farragut West area, if drivers waited for the cross walk to be completely free to turn, MAYBE one car could go with every light change. Traffic would be even worse than it is now.

And for those who intentionally slow down, what is wrong with you? As long as the car isn't doing something illegal (like running a red light) quickly cross so everyone can get where they are going.

These are types of pedestrians who seem to want "But I had the right of way" printed on their tombstones.

Creeping your car up on someone is threatening. If it’s too crowded with people then don’t drive your car there.

That is the way the street work, cars are allowed to enter the intersection ... you need to move quickly so you don't obstruct the flow of traffic.

Sorry you are wrong on this one.

No, you don't. It is not the obligation of people who are crossing the street to move quickly so as not to obstruct people who are driving. Not the legal obligation, not the moral obligation, not the civic obligation.

+1.

-1000

It is actually a law that you can't impede the flow of traffic. If you are purposely walking slow because you didn't take your meds and you are mad at a dtiver, it's illegal.