Highway code question

DUTR

gwen80 wrote: »

Hi there

Had a bit of a disagreement with a man on Saturday down the road from my place. There's double lines on the road where it joins the main road and a 'Give way' sign. He took exception to the fact that I didn't stop for him to cross the road. As far as I'm concerned, there is no pedestrian crossing there and I am only looking to give way to traffic. Now to be honest, if he appeared to be elderly or disabled, I may well have stopped to let him cross, but the fact was he seemed determined not to stop and to try and prove a point. When I didn't want to stop to let him cross he started shouting and making hand gestures.

Now as far as I'm concerned it's a road, with a give way sign. So to me, traffic has right of way and I give way to traffic on the main road. There he is telling me to read the Highway Code, so just to check myself I've been on the website. Low and behold, a give way sign means I have to give way to 'traffic'. Does anybody know what he was talking about?

G

gwen80 wrote: »

No worries. I'm still a bit confused about who had right of way though. I guess I just have to hope I don't run into him (figuratively!) again!

I'm not even sure why you are stressing?
beings as this pedestrian is not your partner, he or you do not have to let the other win the argument.
Anyways, faced with that situation, I would have sounded my horn, if the pedestrian is stressed....tough luck, he has to also exercise due care and attention as a pedestrian and exercise the green cross code, it was not clear and safe for him to cross and as such he shoud not have attempted to do so.

facade

I thought we'd said, you have the right of way in the circumstance that you described.
But as you cannot simply run into him if he crosses in front of you, it is rather a moot point.

dacouch

It gives you a nice feeling when you let other vehicles, bikes, cycles and people out.

mgdavid

dacouch wrote: »

It gives you a nice feeling when you let other vehicles, bikes, cycles and people out.

only when it's acknowledged with a wave or smile or just a slight nod of the head; when you get a scowl or just simply blanked, you tend to think 'why bother?'

dacouch

mgdavid wrote: »

only when it's acknowledged with a wave or smile or just a slight nod of the head; when you get a scowl or just simply blanked, you tend to think 'why bother?'

Ideally it's nice when they acknowledge it but if they don't you've still done something nice.

gwen80

dacouch wrote: »

It gives you a nice feeling when you let other vehicles, bikes, cycles and people out.

It does and I do it every day, but equally, if all I did was let people out I'd never get to work...it's all about balance...

gwen80

facade wrote: »

I thought we'd said, you have the right of way in the circumstance that you described.
But as you cannot simply run into him if he crosses in front of you, it is rather a moot point.

Earlier posters were saying that a Give way sign was to give way to 'traffic' and traffic includes pedestrians...should I be giving way to any pedestrians at every Give way sign?

Lum

Careful on the protruding bonnet criticism, as it depends a lot on the road layout.

The end of the road I live on comes out on the inside edge of a 40mph bend where most folk do 50. If turning right I need to stick out 3-4 feet before I have enough viability to see if it's safe to carry on because nobody takes any notice of the concealed junction warning signs.

facade

gwen80 wrote: »

Earlier posters were saying that a Give way sign was to give way to 'traffic' and traffic includes pedestrians...should I be giving way to any pedestrians at every Give way sign?

If they are on the road, eg jogging along the gutter or pushing a wheelbarrow, I suppose yes
On the pavement, no.

Stop stressing over this.

You are obliged to give way to traffic on the major road.

Pedestrians

You are obliged to give way to pedestrians crossing a junction that you are turning into. (not out of)
You are obliged to give way to pedestrians if you are driving across the pavement, eg. a dropped kerb to go into/out of your drive.
You must give way to pedestrians with a foot on a zebra crossing., and obey the rules of light controlled crossings,
you must follow the direction of the lollipop lady (when the butt of the lollipop pole is on the road you must stop) uniformed policemen, traffic officers & traffic wardens.

You do not need to give way to pedestrians on the road at any other time, they should give way to you.

All this is moot if a cyclist is hurtling along the pavement (there may be a crazy cycle lane on the pavement, or they may be riding illegally) and crashes into the side of your car, or someone is running on the pavement and runs into/across the front of your car, you may be exonerated of blame in court, or the Police may take "no further action", but you still have an accident to deal with.

It doesn't matter how "In the Right" you are, you still need to be aware of the surroundings and take avoiding action if necessary.
The rule of thumb is that squishy pedestrians and cyclists come off worst in accidents, so they tend to attract more sympathy and need more consideration, even when they are "in The Wrong"

Just move on and drive sensibly

colino

After proper consideration of some of this, I would have wound down the window, making sure exit was clear of course and shouted, "Bus [EMAIL="W@nker"]W@nker[/EMAIL]"!