Reply to "I didn't run you over, so you need to calm down!"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am at that intersection pretty regularly, as both a pedestrian and a driver. Honestly, it's best when there is a TCO at the intersection, which happens a lot particularly during the school year.

1) As a driver, it is difficult to see whether anyone is coming from the right due to parked cars limiting visibility. Maybe in a larger car, this is not as much of an issue. I drive a Corolla and  have a hard time seeing over the parked cars to see if anyone is coming.

1a) In order to see whether it is safe to make a left from Hiatt onto Irving, I sometimes have to move my car into the intersection, at least over the Hiatt crosswalk, in order to get clear visualization of oncoming traffic. I make a point of looking to see not just if pedestrians are at the intersection but if any are approaching on Irving from the right or left or on Hiatt. If pedestrians are present, I don't block the crosswalk and wait to make my turn until they are gone.

2) That area has a lot of inattentive pedestrians. It does not change the reality of the situation - that drivers are to yield right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks and are liable for striking pedestrians regardless of where the pedestrian is. But it does make it more challenging, as a driver, to predict the behavior of the pedestrians. The pedestrian might be on their phone. They might not be paying attention for other reasons. They might just think that they never have to yield the right of way to anyone ever. They might make a sudden decision to go a different direction. The person driving the car should be paying attention to pedestrian behavior as well as the behavior of other drivers.

3) The whole area is filled with double parkers, confused Uber drivers, buses, and police cars. Half the time the right lane of Irving is blocked by someone unloading their car or a bus that has broken down. The other half the time, someone has parked on the NE corner of Hiatt in clear violation of the no parking sign. It makes it even harder to visualize all the activity in an area.

4) There is a middle school on the corner and most of the kids coming to school are coming from the metro. There is also a large daycare center on Irving. Both are CLEARLY labeled as such. As a driver, if I am in an area where I know there to be children who are likely not paying as close attention as they should to traffic, I am going to be paying EXTRA attention to what is going on around me.

5) There is absolutely no universe in which a person who runs a stop sign at an intersection where a pedestrian is lawfully in the crosswalk and narrowly avoids a collision gets to tell anyone to calm down. The driver in this scenario is 100% in the wrong and should be ashamed of herself. Anyone on the last 14 pages criticizing the OP's behavior or stress level at this experience should be ashamed of themselves as well. [/quote]

OP here.  Thank you.  I had no idea this thread would blow up like it has.  I should have known this thread would devolve into a screed telling pedestrians what to do.  Lots of defensive (but not behind the wheel) drivers here.  My intent was to have a discussion about how to make the roads safer and drivers more cautious.  Oh well.  As many have told me, I should be just be glad I wasn't flattened.  Hopefully I'll lose my cane soon so I can hustle across the street the way I'm supposed to.[/quote]

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