On being a pedestrian

[Jaded]

Three weeks ago a very close friend of mine was killed while crossing the street. Today I am working on a case where a woman was killed while crossing the street. That is where the similarities end.

He was well-known, respected, privately schooled, life-time member of MENSA struck down while crossing the street at dusk in the middle of town. The driver said he didn't see the 6' 300 lbs. man.

She was a homeless person struck down while crossing a remote, unlighted stretch of undivided, unmarked road on the edge of town. The driver said he didn't see the woman and didn't even brake.

Regardless of how or where a person is crossing a road, driveway, or parking lot it is imperative the pedestrian be aware and yield to vehicles, even at crosswalks. I have several photographs I took of a woman who was killed at a crosswalk when the driver could not stop in time. Those little lines painted on the ground will not stop a 600 lbs motorcycle, or worse, a 24K lbs. truck.

Crossing at a marked intersection will not protect you unless all lanes are stopped. And parking lots are even more dangerous because you can have vehicles coming from 4 or more directions.

And as a driver, be careful. There are a lot of distracted, self-absorbed, and ignorant people who think they have the right of way as a pedestrian and live with the "go ahead and hit me, I'll sue you" attitude. Don't add to the equation by being a distracted, self-absorbed driver who thinks he or she has the right of way because "roads are for cars".

I hope each of you will think about this the next time you get into or out of your car...after all, the driver is usually the one who has to live with the consequences.

[Vin DSL]

Three weeks ago a very close friend of mine was killed while crossing the street. Today I am working on a case where a woman was killed while crossing the street. That is where the similarities end...

The driver said he didn't see the 6' 300 lbs. man....

The driver said he didn't see the woman...

And as a driver, be careful...

I can explain this to you!

I used to drive/ride a motorcycle exclusively. The only reason I stopped is because my commute became 90 miles when I moved to the mountains, instead of 9, and that isn't any fun when it's 27 degrees outside!

Anyway, the reason ppl don't see ppl in crosswalks is because they REALLY don't see them. They can look right at them and not see them.

Try to follow me on this...

I've had eye-to-eye contact with drivers, and they pulled right out in front of me. Sometimes I hit them. When the cops came, guess what they said - they didn't see me - and they didn't.

What ppl are LOOKING for is danger!

When you said for ppl to be careful, above, you are actually telling them to be aware of the dangers surrounding them, and that's what MOST ppl do - practice defensive driving, and all that sort of stuff. And you see, my friend, pedestrians present NO danger to them, so they DON'T see them. That's why CAREFUL drivers run over pedestrians in crosswalks. Dittos for them pulling out, and turning, in front of motorcyclists and bicyclists, et cetera.

I'll take an aggressive driver over a defensive driver any day of the week! At least you know what's on their mind[s]!

Think of it this way...

Have you ever LOOKED at your watch - someone will see you looking at it, and ask you what time it is - and you have to look at your watch again? It's the same thing!

When you looked at your watch, you were actually looking to see how many minutes you had before you needed to do something, or how many minutes late you are. Whatever... You WERE NOT looking at your watch to see what time it is. You were thinking '7 minutes to go', or '3 minutes late', or 'I have 30 seconds to play with'...

And, so it goes with drivers. They ARE being careful, and they ARE looking for danger. They usually see DANGER, and are blind to everything else. That's what happened to your friend...

Make sense now?

[Jaded]

Make sense now?

Yes and no...I have logged my share of miles on a motorcycle and riding cross-country in January is no picnic (The Rockies are beautiful but cold). I know what you mean about eye-contact and the other driver still pulling out in front of you. RVs are the absolute worst!

But as a driver, I pay attention to things like front yards, driveways, and the space between parked cars. I don't drive beyond the reach of my headlights unless there is another vehicle in front of me and I can react to something within the scope of their headlights.

I freely admit that I was not the most concientious driver as a teen (not even close) but riding sure made me aware of my surroundings.

Once in southern California, a group of cars stopped in front of me. There was no light, no intersection, no crosswalk. By the time I realized they had stopped and were not just slowing, I had to slam on my brakes and cross into the oncoming lane (I could see there were no cars coming by this time). As I rounded the last car I saw a couple with one small child in tow and pushing another in a stroller. They were crossing 8 lanes of traffic in a 55mph zone. All 1,000 lbs. of me and motorcycle missed the front of the baby carriage by no more than a foot and at about 40 mph.

I have been much more aware of pedestrians since then.

The main point I want to make is that pedestrians should not assume they are safe because they have the right of way. Even though a driver is responsible for his/her actions, they make mistakes. And when the mistake is a collision between person and vehicle, the person will lose. Many vehicular accidents occur because the person with the right of way fails to yield to the person making the mistake (running light, sign etc.)

So what if you have the right of way? Don't just honk your horn and continue into harm's way...slow down and let the other person go.

How many times have you had to back out of a blind parking spot only to have some jerk honk at you as he/she drives by behind you? They can't even wait 15 seconds to avoid an accident.

And yes, you are correct that drivers don't consider pedestrians a threat...but drivers should be more aware. Who knows how my life would have unfolded if I had killed that baby because mom and dad were being stupid.

[Ron]

I've had eye-to-eye contact with drivers, and they pulled right out in front of me. Sometimes I hit them. When the cops came, guess what they said - they didn't see me - and they didn't.

You shouldn't be assaulting drivers of cars, and your State ought to get more observant police officers. But then again, I believe the officers over your version of the story.

(Just working on my political-take-it-out-of-context skillz)


Interesting theory on subconscious driving, although the analogy of looking at one's watch doesn't seem to follow. Just because you're asked what time it is and don't immediately recall and perform a knee-jerk reaction of looking at your watch doesn't mean you didn't register the time. Even if you didn't register the time, looking for a piece of information and not registering a different piece doesn't mean you SHOULD have registered that. I can look at my watch and not notice what color the face of it is without it being a failure of the main task at hand.

When driving, you SHOULD register the presence of another object, regardless of its status as a threat, but your theory suggests that a driver in fact may be either in a wrong mode for driving or have a fault in their subconcious-to-conscience transfer mechanism, whatever that may be called. Must be the theory behind the annoying modulating motorcycle headlights.

Like I said previously, interesting theory though. Where'd you Google that up? The first instance I find is 'Never count on "eye contact" as a sign that a driver will yield. Too often, a driver looks right at a motorcyclist and still fails to "see" him. The only eyes that you can count on are your own.'
http://www.dor.mo.gov/mvdl/drivers/motorman/part3.htm

[Spathiphyllum]

Since this is such a shared experience, I'll add a cent or two to the discussion.

I tend to think drivers really don't see, as in consciously register, pedestrians, strollers, shopping carts, motorcycles, etc. because of the phenomenon called pattern recognition. Drivers subconsciously register other cars and streets better when they are driving because of the contextual environment in which they temporarily exist, so responses to them (cars/streets) as visual cues are much more immediate and concrete. It takes serious, conscious effort to read a street sign, for example, and that level of mental exercise only comes into play when the final destination is close (or when one is lost). A more familiar subconcious recognition dominates prior to that due to familiarity and comfort.

As a natural world example, observe the dining habits of birds. Different birds will dine on different parts of the microenvironment that is a tree. Some prefer the east side over the west, others prefer the top over the bottom, and still others prefer the inner branches versus the leaf tips. The point is that when a bird flies to the tree to hunt, it will often fly right by the big, juicy, fluorescent orange caterpillar (assuming that it has not had a bad experience eating big, juicy, fluorescent orange caterpillars previously and avoidance is intentional) dangling right in front of it because the meal is not in the bird's normal browsing area. Nevermind that it had to fly right past the food to get where it wanted to be.

Humans do the same thing. Ever look in the fridge for a beer in the spot where you always have the beer and find that somebody moved it without telling you? It could have been moved to the front of the top shelf and you could look right past it and wonder where the beer went. Along the same topic, what if someone changed your familiar bottle with a can? You still might "see" it but it might not register what it is for a while, or at all. And the exception that proves the rule? Clssam. He'd never miss the beer.

All this is pattern recognition and patterned behavior based on visual cues. People in cars are looking for other cars and just about nothing else. Anything other than a big, rolling object takes much more conscious thought. Changing the somewhat autonomic patterns of daily behavior requires a change of pace and some reflection... not likely to happen when one gets in a car.

[Ron]

I've NEVER flown by a big juicy brightly colored Caterpillar. At least not without noticing it and grunting.

[Jaded]

...so if you find yourself driving along, thinking about big, juicy, bright colored caterpillers...take a closer look.

[Vin DSL]

Interesting theory on subconscious driving... Where'd you Google that up?

It's relegated to memory. I read the "Hurt Report" (by Harry Hurt [ironic, no?]) years ago, and it was spot on. I think they published the entire report in a cycle magazine. It's probably in a box, out in my garage, somewhere. I keep stuff like that...

[Ron]

I just saw Jaded's post before mine...

Hey!!! Not *all* RV'ers aer bad drivers. In fact most of us are super drivers considering what we're working with-- humongous overloaded unstable underpowered lumbering sails.

On the other hand, just like some bikers, some people really shouldn't be driving them -- they just stand out a lot more due for obvious reasons.

"Some people" just don't realize how long it takes for an RV to come up to speed. Unfortunately some of those "some people" are driving them.

We RVers have some complaints about drivers of small vehicles, too. You guys seem to think we can stop on a dime. At highway speed, safe separation for a truck is 1 second per 10 feet in length plus 1 second over 40 MPH. That equates to a 7 second gap for my rig. At 60 MPH that's more than 600 feet.

Also, when bikers ride in a group, you guys frequently behave in unsettling manners that are extraordinarily distracting, with 2 vehicles in the space of a single lane (riding side-by-side) with accelerations and decelerations accompanying your loud exhausts, playing with each other. It makes driving a rig very difficult in watching where all of you are, and makes it HUGELY likely to cause an accident. 5 died during bike week in Myrtle Beach last year, not because the car drivers were acting stupidly, but because bikers ride in a manner that is unexpected by others.

On the other hand, the same license that allows you to drive your VW allows you to drive a 45,000 pound motorhome pulling a 20,000 pound trailer. If it weren't a motorhome, the driver would be required to have a Class A CDL with AirBrake and HazMat endorsements.

On the other hand, some RV drivers are very good at controlling their rigs, as I demonstrated recently when I lost my suspension air lines, while towing. Two days later I had a "catastrophic" tire failure (read: blowout) at 55MPH in New York. Right front tire, no less.

How many hands am I up to?

Just like bikers, most RVers are good drivers who get no respect from anyone else on the road. The difference is on my bike I could always crack the throttle and maneuver away. Something that is virtually impossible to do in a big rig.

Just rambling....

[Ron]

Speaking of just rambling... didja notice my post count declined by about 1000 posts a couple of days ago? Now not only can't I find any of those posts by using "Ron" as the poster name in a search, I also have no credit for them.

What I'd really like is for Jag to do the following SQL (in pseudo code)

update <vb_messages> m
set m.poster_id=9998
where m.poster_id=<guest poster id, maybe 0, or maybe my old userid> 
and <m.username>=Ron;

Check results.....

update <vb_messages> m
set m.poster_id=5581
where m.poster_id=9998;

Then resync again.... but I'm just dreaming...

[mattsiegman]

huh?

[Spathiphyllum]

...didja notice my post count declined by about 1000 posts a couple of days ago? Now not only can't I find any of those posts by using "Ron" as the poster name in a search, I also have no credit for them...

At least they remembered your birthday. Seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the blessed event. My how time flies...

[Chappy]

Jaded:

I'm sorry that your friend died, and that you suffered such a tremendous loss.

I will offer good thoughts (prayers) on you and your friend's behalf.

[Jaded]

Thanks Chappy.

[Jaded]

I am glad this has turned into such a constructive discussion. Just remember to look out for those big, juicy, brightly colored caterpillers when you drive or ride.

A driver in a Suburban almost backed into my car as he reversed out of a parking spot yesterday. Now that would have been ironic.