Drivers and Zebra crossings

mazza111

Or the people who look as if they are going to walk past a zebra crossing and automatically turn and straight out onto the crossing b4 looking, without giving you a change to stop. Brakes do take time to work, no matter how slow you're going.

Not many zebras left around here, as most of the lights on them were vandalised

perplexed.com

Anyone reading this from Africa? Please post something about a zebra crossing



Sorry, up late with horrendous toothache......

Altarf

mazza111 wrote: »

Or the people who look as if they are going to walk past a zebra crossing and automatically turn and straight out onto the crossing b4 looking, without giving you a change to stop.

So you have seen the zebra crossing.
You have seen the person walking towards the zebra crossing.

And yet you don't anticipate that you may have to stop. You do have a driving licence don't you?

Lip_Stick

A few months ago I was in a supermarket car park at a zebra crossing. There was a car on my right and one on my left. The car on my right was fairly close, but close enough to stop, the one on my left was further back. I started crossing, thanked the guy on my right when the car on my left went straight across the crossing right in front of me missing the pram I was pushing by inches. I was half way across the bloody crossing when they did that! I was really tempted to find the driver and give them a piece of my mind.

Nilrem

Altarf wrote: »

So you have seen the zebra crossing.
You have seen the person walking towards the zebra crossing.

And yet you don't anticipate that you may have to stop. You do have a driving licence don't you?

However, if you're also paying attention to their position and demeaner (or road positioning as my dad would put it in relation to cars), they can be walking in the genal direction of the Zebra (as if to walk past it), but not looking at the road (looking straight ahead), not actually walking close to the kurb (indeed often well away from the kurb).
Then they suddenly do a 90 degree turn towards the kurb and step straight out.
To avoid getting surprised by that, and be able to stop in time you're talking about crawling along at 5mph, or even stopping at every Zebra that has anyone anywhere near it to be safe - something that goes against one of the principles of driving which is to try and keep moving when safe, and not hold up traffic unduly.

In such a case it doesn't matter if you're doing 10mph, or less you can get caught out because they made absolutely no indication they were going to use the Zebra, unlike someone who has been heading more directly towards it (rather than is if they are walking past it), has been paying attention to the traffic, and god forbid actually paused for a second or so at the edge of the crossing, rather than assuming that everyone has inertia less breaking systems (now available from Roddenberry enterprises), that defy the laws of physics fitted.

It's not just Zebra's where you see this sort of suicidal behaviour from pedestrians, often i've noticed the chances of them doing it is increased greatly if they have a mobile phone out (possibly evolution trying to make a point?).