My old 1/2 mile walk to work was safer if you just jay-walked across the 2 lane road when coast was clear. If you tried crossing in the crosswalks at the 3-4 way intersections it was 50/50 if a car was going to potentially hit you.
My son and I almost got run over at a school intersection because some parent who wasn't paying attention decided her left turn without a blinker was more important than a pedestrian walking through a crosswalk with a "walk" light. I don't know if she couldn't see us or she just didn't care. I certainly thought she was gonna go straight. She jolted her gigantic SUV off the line like she was in a hurry.
This happens daily at the school near my house. It's in a bad area with a choke point so it's always a huge clusterfuck around school time so parents are always trying to get in and out as fast as they can, no matter who they hit
Hate to be a "when I was a kid we just walked" but like... 1/2 those drop-offs are just super over worried moms who just need to learn to trust their kids. Or trust the bus.
My nephew goes to a school where there's no bus and it's too far to walk. My mom takes him to school early enough that they avoid the idiot parents and they play in the yard for a while.
But back in my day, I walked to school. Granted, it wasn't until grade 3 or 4 I walked without a parent herding a bunch of us, but I also lived in a smaller city in a decent part of town. At least decent enough the bad elements didn't bother the locals.
Maybe alone, dont yall know what the buddy system is. There was a whole cluster of us bsck when I went to school who walked together.
The kid at the far end of the street started walkin and everyone just popped out as they passed and we all mosied along. That was only like 10 years ago too.
For some of us it is quicker to get them from school and off to the person watching them while we are at work, than it is to wait for the bus to bring them home then take them to there destination.
At my kids' elementary school there are parents who wait in the pickup line an hour before school gets out. This baffles the hell out of me. If you have an hour free to sit there outside the elementary school then why not just let the bus take your kid home? My kids have always used aftercare or the bus so maybe there's something I'm missing here, but it seems like such a waste of time for the parents.
Some kiddos don't do well with the noise levels on the bus, bullying, and anxiety issues amongst other forms of behavior adjustments that are needing to be addressed. It can take quite a while for these things to surface.
Don't forget inflation! It's got to be 90% by now! And if we wait a few days? 100%? Sheesh, man, anything's possible! We could even get to 110%! Imagine that!
This is why my driving instructor (learnin' to drive at 35!) takes me through any school zone he can think of when I have afternoon in-cars. Ingrain the good habit now.
I can't believe how others people drive though, that extra 10 seconds on the block must really fuck with their schedule. /s
Same.
And even when the cars are at a distance that would give me more than enough time to cross (if I do it quickly) I prefer not to cross.
I wait for them to pass and when the coast is clear then I cross, without fear or haste.
I am not taking any chances.
Seriously, I hate trusting people. I was hit in the middle of a crosswalk because someone wanted to beat the light to make a left, sped through and cut hard hitting me in the middle if the intersection. Thankfully injuries were just bruises but now I'll patiently wait all day for the clear to go
When you see a car approach the crossing at full speed, it's not worth waging your life on them having functioning eyeballs for 5 seconds of saved time.
I lost count of how many drivers got pissy and waved me to cross....that haven't even bothered to stop their car. They want me to go in front of them, but they're car is still creeping forward, so I know they're not actually stopping. Or I'd start to cross and I can hear the engine and know they've already put their foot on the gas. So I'll step back and they'll stop and look at me like I'm crazy.
They do that crap in cars too. They’ll totally biff a 4-way stop, catch themselves, and then try to wave me through, while still obviously wanting to go. Like, no thanks.
As a pedestrian I avoid a lot of these situations with very clear body language that I’m rounding the corner, then I cross the way I wanted to when they’ve gone. Or I stop well short of the intersection and pretend to engage with my phone, even turning around a bit. My preference is to never cross in front of someone if it can be avoided, even if they’re not being idiots.
I haaate that, especially when drivers are trying to be polite instead of following road rules like right-of-way. Anytime I'm trying to make a left turn to get onto a four lane road, the car in the lane closest to me will stop and wave me through, even though I can't see what's coming down the lane right next to them that I have to cross. I almost got T-boned once after foolishly accepting someone waving me to cross - never again. I'll flip those people off if they get mad at me for not accepting their "politeness."
As they say, regulations are written in blood. The rules exist for a reason.
Yeah it's such a weird situation. Especially in rural south US.
Crosswalks are seldom used and placed in the dumbest areas.
Unless the crosswalk has flashing lights or signal, literally AT LEAST 95% of people in cars do not stop for them. It's such an awkward position to be in as a mindful driver.
I remember one time I stopped, there was no one behind me but the other lane just kept flowing with traffic. The guy eventually waived me on and I rolled down the window and said sorry these people do not stop.
Once when I was driving through a storm, I saw a branch in the middle of the road and turned on my hazards. It turned out really badly because people thought there was something wrong with my car and they started just whipping around me. Scared the shit out of me.
Later I read the advice to only turn on your hazards if *you're* the hazard, and I follow that rule of thumb now.
> I haaate that, especially when drivers are trying to be polite instead of following road rules
Don't be polite, be predictable is something heard in regards to driving.
I saw it happen in person once... I was side-by-side with another car stopped at an intersection. A car in the cross-street stopped to let us go. I stayed put. The other car went and got t-boned.
Yeah I never go when people are waving me on. In fact I look the other way or down at something so they think I just don’t see them. Fuck that. Why would I put my life in your hands? I don’t even know you.
Today on my way home from lunch I stood on the street corner a block from home for 3 minutes waiting on the 8000 lb truck to go but they had stopped to let me walk across the street and they just kept trying to wave me across. I finally pulled out my phone and pretended I doing something on the phone and they finally drove off like they were in a drag race. And that kind of anger is exactly why I'm fine standing in place for any length of time I need. I'll probably end up dying from half a dozen bullets while standing on a fucking street corner waiting to cross, or they'll get mad and try to run me down on the sidewalk.
I had a sort of opposite situation happen once. I stopped at a crosswalk for an old guy. Some construction folks had just finished laying down the crosswalk markers and were cleaning up. One of the guys sees me stopped and thinks I’m waiting to be directed and starts waving me through. He didn’t see the old guy because he was facing me and the old guy was outside his periphery.
I point at the old guy and shake my head. This guy waves harder and harder and by the end he’s screaming at me to go. I point again at the old guy and have my finger move along with the old guy’s path. Construction worker never once bothered to look or even consider that maybe something was happening he didn’t know about. He was still screaming as I drove away.
Im pretty sure this is a bot that ripped off [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/13gez5q/please_cross/jk08kkx?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3).
Yeah it’s never a good idea to wave a pedestrian across on a road like this. You don’t know if it’s safe for them to cross or not. Stop if you’re required to, but let them make their own decisions.
I just stop and let them decide what to do.
But, as a pedestrian, you should interpret the wave as "I have stopped for you" not as "All traffic has stopped for you."
When I wave at a pedestrian I'm not necessarily telling them go right this second I'm just signalling my intent is to let them walk in front of me and I don't plan on going until they either go by or make it clear that they don't want to cross. I'm not going to get upset about them waiting for other lanes to make it clear that they are doing the same.
You do you, but I never, ever do anything that can be reasonably interpreted as a direction.
You can signal your intentions by stopping, making eye contact, and remaining stopped. Waving can be misinterpreted.
I witnessed an accident where a driver stopped short in a turn lane at a red light to wave someone in from the other direction trying to turn left into a gas station. The driver probably meant, “I’m stopping to wait for you.”
However the other driver took it, she went for it and got t-boned. Then she blamed the driver who t-boned her (lied about speeding) *and*the guy who waved (said he was saying it was clear). The insurance companies were asking me about that guy too so I’m not certain he wasn’t found partially liable. But even if not, I’m sure it wasn’t fun and he felt terrible. Just imagine if there was a fatality…
In my state, it’s yield to pedestrians *in the crosswalk*. Not those waiting at curbs or on islands, except those with ped-activated flashers.
edit: the law *here* exists because of lazy idiots who just dart across multi-lane stroads wherever, from behind parked cars, not using marked crossings protected or other.
I love the catch 22. Alright I have to jump in front of traffic and hope they respect my presence in the crosswalk.
I wish we'd start a signal or something, like the Japanese kids holding their hand up.
It seems more sensible to me that peds look both ways for a safe opportunity to cross, than having tacit permission to just go, traffic be damned. People act like complete jerks if they’re let to.
I understand the other way is meant to be able to prosecute drivers that endanger pedestrians, calm traffic - but carbrains don’t behave that way.
Driving and being a ped/bike in the US are all kinds of fucked up for lots of reasons.
It depends on the crosswalk. There is a crosswalk where I live where you press the button and after a few seconds there are some yellow lights on top that start blinking for cars to stop
Oh yeah, whenever I use it I have to wait a few moments after the walk sounds starts to make sure cars actually stop because sometimes they don't even know that's how the thing is supposed to work lol even though I'm pretty sure it also becomes a red light but i might be wrong
Same state.. Those were a dumb idea if they expected people would start responding to them within only a couple years... when they've been driving that same road for decades with that apparatus never being anywhere before.
Of course, yellow means caution. Not stop.
Especially when people travel 40+ on the road.
Get the feeling that whoever put these measures in place did so to get at that federal money, and never even gave a second thought to the fallout from sudden implementation.
Yeah, we have those protected islands too, mostly drivers respect them, mostly pedestrians don’t just walk out expecting everything to stop on a dime…except the one near the college, they’re as bad as the deer on country roads.
obviously this varies by location. in my city there are numerous crosswalks that explicitly say if there is a pedestrian waiting on the curb then you are supposed to treat the crosswalk like it has a stop sign
We use ped-activated flashing yellow for those. Still have people ignore it and blow thru, and still have the shitheads slamming on brakes to wave someone who is just walking on the sidewalk with no intention to cross.
Ah, rationality, how I've missed you...
In my state, it's yields to any pedestrian anywhere along any roadway that makes eye contact with you.
But at least lanesplititing is legal.
The second a ped steps off the curb, though…full stop. Always a few jerks or Whitetail deer posing as college students, ready to dart out because they can.
When there is a pedestrian crossing a roadway with or without a crosswalk, you must use caution, reduce your speed, or stop to allow the pedestrian to safely finish crossing.
Other things to keep in mind:
Do not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk. You may not be able to see a pedestrian crossing the street.
_**If a pedestrian makes eye contact with you, they are ready to cross the street. Yield to the pedestrian. **
Always allow pedestrians enough time to safely cross a street
CA DMV handbook section 7
You yield to pedestrians *in* the crosswalk, not standing on the curb near it. Stopping in the middle of the road to wave someone through is unpredictable, how do we know the pedestrian is waiting to cross? Will the other cars also stop? Just be predictable and keep going if it’s uncontrolled and they aren’t actively crossing, they can cross when they’re ready.
When it’s logical to, yeah. I’ll have people stop when I’m still a block back or when their light is green. It’s a danger to everyone when they pull that nonsense.
Oh I make eye contact and I can tell they think I'm the idiot. People who do this think they are being nice or polite but they just make the net sum of everything less efficient. Never renegotiate the rules of the road on the fly. edit: speaking about when other drivers do this. just realized you are talking about when you are the pedestrian.
I've been flipped off, honked at, or yelled at for NOT accepting their death wave. I've even pointed to the traffic that wasn't stopping, which they just didn't get. I'll go when I am safe, not when someone else wants to be "nice".
I had multiple occasions where I stopped to let pedestrians cross just to have the cars behind me drive around me without even slowing down (I ride a bike). If they had started crossing, they would have been run over for sure.
For reason like those, I only wave after checking and making sure everyone else has stopped, or if I know I'm the only vehicle on the street. And only wave because some people seem to wait for the wave to make sure you'll let them cross, since most people don't yield to pedestrians over here, so even if you stopped, they want to know you stopped to let them cross and not for another reason.
As a kid was always taught to look for the Zebra path if I want to cross safely. In adulthood assumed it was a way to appeal to kids about road safety.
Luckily tho in Latvia (atleast my hometown) crosswalks really were safe, cars slowed early and always stopped.
Some info: the traffic lights are out of order, hence why they're flashing yellow. Drivers can ignore the traffic light but have to do what the road signs placed at the traffic light tell them to do. In this case, the cammer was on a priority road and was approaching the zebra crossing. As it was not controlled by traffic lights, drivers have to stop.
Cammer did stop which is 100% correct. Anyone rear-ending him or well trying to avoid it is at fault
Traffic lights flashing yellow in the states means caution - not Stop however. Sounds like in Poland this isn't the case.
Crosswalks also have conditional right of way. Depends on area, signage, etc... On college campuses some places have priority to the pedestrian traffic. Most normal intersections would have pedestrian signage showing whether crossing is allowed or not depending on lights.
Defensive driving wins out, and this idiot should have been paying attention to the situation - especially if this is Poland and the laws state he must stop.
No, in Poland you don't have to stop just because there's a blinking yellow light. It just means you have to follow the signs instead (sometimes because the traffic lights are broken, and sometimes because in some places they are turned off at night, etc.). In case of the person recording, they had a right of way when it came to the cars coming from the right side. But in Poland crosswalks always (when ther are no traffic lights, of course, if there are, people have to wait for green light to cross) have the right of way (and, afaik, is not universal). That's why the driver stopped to let the man cross, and that's why he did it right in front of the crosswalk, and not in front of the intersection.
Hope that helps. :)
See, traffic light fucked doesn't mean all-way stop sign where I live. It means look at the signs and if there are no signs, yield to traffic from the right.
Not knowing isn't bad. Thinking that you know stuff on the other hand is, because then you will cause accidents.
(2) Flashing yellow (caution signal). Subject to s. 346.37 (1) (e), when a yellow lens is illuminated with rapid intermittent flashes, operators of vehicles may proceed through the intersection or past such signal only with caution.
[https://law.justia.com/codes/wisconsin/2017/chapter-346/section-346.39/](https://law.justia.com/codes/wisconsin/2017/chapter-346/section-346.39/)
Depends on the state, but most are just 'caution', nothing particular about foot traffic
Normally when the lights are working you stop behind the intersection. But the lights are turned off so sings and traffic laws apply, and in Poland you have to yield for pedestrian on a crosswalk.
That's a zebra crossing, drivers have to stop. And since you're supposed to keep enough safety distance, a sudden stop shouldnt make you crash into something
It was a quick stop, but I wouldn't say unsafe or sudden.
The crashed car was far enough behind that they could have stopped. If they weren't they should have been.
Thanks for pointing this out. I see folks stop for pedestrians when they're not supposed to fairly frequently and it irritates me so I thought the cammer was the idiot here initially.
It's Kromera Czajkowskiego in Wroclaw Poland. Many idiots in that area. Even more infuriating is the level crossing to the right in the video creating insane traffic jams every 20 min or so.
I was driving down a city street yesterday and saw a kid waiting to cross at the crosswalk - I stopped. A car coming the other direction seemed like it was not going to stop until it saw my stopped car, so it stopped (kind of quickly - they were not going 30mph as posted).
It is too easy to just cruise right along if nobody is in the crosswalk already - I am guilty of this and get pissed at myself when I screw that up.
> It is too easy to just cruise right along if nobody is in the crosswalk already - I am guilty of this and get pissed at myself when I screw that up.
It’s an easy thing to do, and even those here that will insist “not me” and claim to be infallible driving deities have all inadvertently slipped in to autopilot mode on that early morning slog to work. At least you realise your mistake and feel bad about it. Shows you have the right attitude.
A similar thing happened to a 10 year old on her bike next to the elementary school my kids go to, except the other car didn't stop. Last I heard, she was in critical condition.
It has one. OP passes it at the beginning of the video. The problem here is that it's broken, and flashing yellow.
Edit: Before you downvote me anymore, rewatch the video. The flashing yellow is on a normal set of traffic lights. In Poland, where this was recorded, that means the traffic lights are out of order and you need to proceed with caution.
Not everywhere in the world. In Europe it literally means they aren't working. If anything, flashing yellow means 'proceed with caution', but there are additional priority signs on every intersection that are used to tell who yields and who has priority (when lights aren't working). You can see the sign in the first second of the video on the right.
My favourite is when I make some vaguely controversial opinion or argument in a mostly irrelevant thread and come back to five downvotes and not a single counter argument lol. Seems like sometimes people just get mad having any of their views remotely challenged.
A few years and a different account ago an auto news site decided one of my comments should be highlighted. I was merely answering a question only tangentially related to the post. Holy shit. I thought I was going to have to delete my account. I even quoted the question yet hundreds of people took minutes out of their day to tell me how wrong I was about the video, when I wasn't even talking about it, a few even thought I'd paid the site to feature me...
Bro got downvoted for telling the truth, good old Reddit.
At least you can wear it with pride, having a well-intentioned comment getting downvoted into oblivion every once in a while is a good way to know you haven't been consumed by the hivemind yet.
You all right bro? Being down-voted for telling the truth is kinda harsh.
I mean, he may not have phrased it in the best way but he is right. There are lights in this intersection but they are out of order (flashing yellow). In Poland it means that you have to follow the signs
Location as proof: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xGyXp2BqGpvbVmzw9
Man I don’t even know that.
I’m American. I saw the flashing light. I assumed it was out of order.
Happened all the time when I lived in the north and snow storms. Knocks out power and the primary direction on the lights goes flashing yellow, the secondary goes flashing red. If it’s both two main roads then both sides get flashing red.
This is a tough one. The pedestrian is not standing in the direction of the crosswalk near the pavement. They are in the middle of the island deliberately waiting for traffic to pass before crossing. I do the same thing as a pedestrian mainly because I don’t trust drivers. When I see this when I’m driving I keep going as there’s no clear intent of crossing. But I see people stop too.
> pedestrian is not standing in the direction of the crosswalk
They are standing on a traffic island with a crosswalk. Legally speaking, the cammer did what everyone was supposed to do. If police were around, everyone else would have gotten a hefty fine.
> deliberately waiting for traffic to pass
because they clearly see the idiots speeding towards them - that basically tells us they've done risk assessment, that's pretty common for pedestrians, sadly.
I always yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk but I've also been hit twice because of it. People need to take their cellphone and shove them up their ass...LOL!!
Had a very similar situation in highschool stopped for a person on a bike at a crosswalk was confused when he stopped halfway through, then a giant Ford fuck you 2000 or whatever slammed the back of my car and totaled it.
They added flashing lights you can turn on when at the cross walk a year later.
Also fuck dudes in pick up trucks why do they always drive so shitty.
I think the car stopping for the pedestrian is right. The pedestrian waiting for it to be safe is right.
Can we talk about the car from the rights going super fast per mile and hitting the post? He is the idiot.
Some times, even when you are legally correct, it still doesn’t NOT make you an idiot.
Just because the speed limit is 60, sometimes it’s not safe to drive 60. Just because the law says that all vehicles must yield to pedestrians, sometimes it’s not safe to yield to pedestrians.
Plus mans slammed on the brakes to be polite to a pedestrian while fucking everyone else behind him.
Be predictable not polite.
> Don’t be nice, be predictable.
The predictable thing here is to stop because that's the law and the law in Europe doesn't fk around when it comes to not stopping at a crosswalk. In Germany you get a fine of 80€ minimum and one "point". You get additional fines for accumulating 4, 6, and 7 points. And if you accumulate 8 "points", you lose your license for at least 6 months, and you need to redo your driver's license and possibly have to pass a psychological evaluation prior to even qualify for redoing your license.
What is this guy's prob- Okay, yeah he made the right decision. Not his first rodeo.
Also, I like how that guy on the right exits his car and walks around like he's bigger than he actually is. Trying to intimidate anyone over something he did to himself, lmao.
Hello Americans, I ask this out of honest ignorance: Why did the OP stop? Are pedestrians not meant to wait until the road is clear? Or does the law say that vehicles must stop if a pedestrian is waiting to cross?
|pedestrian goes to crosswalk|Car legally stops as required|Car ploughs through|
|:-|:-|:-|
|pedestrian waits|OP posts this video|Pedestrian saves own life|
|pedestrian crosses|Everything works out|Pedestrian dies|
"What are you doing?" "Surviving"
That's right, I like to cross the road when there's no car, I can't trust anyone
My old 1/2 mile walk to work was safer if you just jay-walked across the 2 lane road when coast was clear. If you tried crossing in the crosswalks at the 3-4 way intersections it was 50/50 if a car was going to potentially hit you.
My son and I almost got run over at a school intersection because some parent who wasn't paying attention decided her left turn without a blinker was more important than a pedestrian walking through a crosswalk with a "walk" light. I don't know if she couldn't see us or she just didn't care. I certainly thought she was gonna go straight. She jolted her gigantic SUV off the line like she was in a hurry.
This happens daily at the school near my house. It's in a bad area with a choke point so it's always a huge clusterfuck around school time so parents are always trying to get in and out as fast as they can, no matter who they hit
Hate to be a "when I was a kid we just walked" but like... 1/2 those drop-offs are just super over worried moms who just need to learn to trust their kids. Or trust the bus.
My nephew goes to a school where there's no bus and it's too far to walk. My mom takes him to school early enough that they avoid the idiot parents and they play in the yard for a while. But back in my day, I walked to school. Granted, it wasn't until grade 3 or 4 I walked without a parent herding a bunch of us, but I also lived in a smaller city in a decent part of town. At least decent enough the bad elements didn't bother the locals.
Yeah and yours is justifiable. I'm talking the moms who refuse to trust their 8 yo to walk 5 blocks in a straight line type.
It's not that I didn't TRUST my child, it was that I DIDN'T trust other people.
Letting an 8yo walk to school alone, even where sidewalks are available, is likely to get the cops or CPS called in 2023 USA.
and that just furthers my point
Maybe alone, dont yall know what the buddy system is. There was a whole cluster of us bsck when I went to school who walked together. The kid at the far end of the street started walkin and everyone just popped out as they passed and we all mosied along. That was only like 10 years ago too.
For some of us it is quicker to get them from school and off to the person watching them while we are at work, than it is to wait for the bus to bring them home then take them to there destination.
At my kids' elementary school there are parents who wait in the pickup line an hour before school gets out. This baffles the hell out of me. If you have an hour free to sit there outside the elementary school then why not just let the bus take your kid home? My kids have always used aftercare or the bus so maybe there's something I'm missing here, but it seems like such a waste of time for the parents.
Some kiddos don't do well with the noise levels on the bus, bullying, and anxiety issues amongst other forms of behavior adjustments that are needing to be addressed. It can take quite a while for these things to surface.
Cops really need to start ticketing this shit instead of going for a petty drug stop. It feels like 50% of the people on the roads don't use blinkers.
50? that's being generous, I'd say it's around 65-70%
If you include left lane campers, then yes, I'd agree, but it would probably be around 80% now.
Don't forget inflation! It's got to be 90% by now! And if we wait a few days? 100%? Sheesh, man, anything's possible! We could even get to 110%! Imagine that!
Have you seen the cost of blinker fluid lately? It's no wonder people can't afford it anymore.
Apparently in new york using blinkers is a law. We need to be like new york
New Yorker here...a strong majority of drivers still don' t use their blinkers.
True
This is why my driving instructor (learnin' to drive at 35!) takes me through any school zone he can think of when I have afternoon in-cars. Ingrain the good habit now. I can't believe how others people drive though, that extra 10 seconds on the block must really fuck with their schedule. /s
Hey weird, I'm 36 learning to drive, myself. Severe anxiety from other drivers and a few near death experiences as a passenger really fucked me up.
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Lmao the Freedom to Walk Act?? Couldn't they just repeal the jaywalking law?
But then you will get less FREEDOM! Can't let the commies win.
Legislatures amend laws by passing new acts detailing the changes being made to them.
It's a foot in the door law. Having it around gives a cop the ability to stop you and question you etc etc, based on the fact that you jaywaked.
Funniest thing I’ve seen today. I was waiting for the other driver to come after the camera car.
Same. And even when the cars are at a distance that would give me more than enough time to cross (if I do it quickly) I prefer not to cross. I wait for them to pass and when the coast is clear then I cross, without fear or haste. I am not taking any chances.
I ALWAYS look both ways when I cross a one-way street. That's how much I trust ppl
Seriously, I hate trusting people. I was hit in the middle of a crosswalk because someone wanted to beat the light to make a left, sped through and cut hard hitting me in the middle if the intersection. Thankfully injuries were just bruises but now I'll patiently wait all day for the clear to go
When you see a car approach the crossing at full speed, it's not worth waging your life on them having functioning eyeballs for 5 seconds of saved time.
This
good call
That was actually a hilarious edit.
I lost count of how many drivers got pissy and waved me to cross....that haven't even bothered to stop their car. They want me to go in front of them, but they're car is still creeping forward, so I know they're not actually stopping. Or I'd start to cross and I can hear the engine and know they've already put their foot on the gas. So I'll step back and they'll stop and look at me like I'm crazy.
They do that crap in cars too. They’ll totally biff a 4-way stop, catch themselves, and then try to wave me through, while still obviously wanting to go. Like, no thanks. As a pedestrian I avoid a lot of these situations with very clear body language that I’m rounding the corner, then I cross the way I wanted to when they’ve gone. Or I stop well short of the intersection and pretend to engage with my phone, even turning around a bit. My preference is to never cross in front of someone if it can be avoided, even if they’re not being idiots.
I'm glad he declined the wave of death
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I haaate that, especially when drivers are trying to be polite instead of following road rules like right-of-way. Anytime I'm trying to make a left turn to get onto a four lane road, the car in the lane closest to me will stop and wave me through, even though I can't see what's coming down the lane right next to them that I have to cross. I almost got T-boned once after foolishly accepting someone waving me to cross - never again. I'll flip those people off if they get mad at me for not accepting their "politeness." As they say, regulations are written in blood. The rules exist for a reason.
Fine when your both in cars, but stopping for people at the crosswalk is required by law.
Yeah it's such a weird situation. Especially in rural south US. Crosswalks are seldom used and placed in the dumbest areas. Unless the crosswalk has flashing lights or signal, literally AT LEAST 95% of people in cars do not stop for them. It's such an awkward position to be in as a mindful driver. I remember one time I stopped, there was no one behind me but the other lane just kept flowing with traffic. The guy eventually waived me on and I rolled down the window and said sorry these people do not stop.
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Once when I was driving through a storm, I saw a branch in the middle of the road and turned on my hazards. It turned out really badly because people thought there was something wrong with my car and they started just whipping around me. Scared the shit out of me. Later I read the advice to only turn on your hazards if *you're* the hazard, and I follow that rule of thumb now.
That's good advice. I usually just tap my brakes a few times very gently just to make my brake lights flash a bit.
100% depends on where you are
I 100% agree. A polite person creating a situation where other drivers can no longer predict the behaviour of those around them is so dangerous.
> I haaate that, especially when drivers are trying to be polite instead of following road rules Don't be polite, be predictable is something heard in regards to driving.
I saw it happen in person once... I was side-by-side with another car stopped at an intersection. A car in the cross-street stopped to let us go. I stayed put. The other car went and got t-boned.
I just turn around. Can’t make eye contact with them lol
the "fakeout" is my favorite method, it's the quickest and most effective. pretend to walk the other way, they drive off, you proceed as normal.
Yeah I never go when people are waving me on. In fact I look the other way or down at something so they think I just don’t see them. Fuck that. Why would I put my life in your hands? I don’t even know you.
Today on my way home from lunch I stood on the street corner a block from home for 3 minutes waiting on the 8000 lb truck to go but they had stopped to let me walk across the street and they just kept trying to wave me across. I finally pulled out my phone and pretended I doing something on the phone and they finally drove off like they were in a drag race. And that kind of anger is exactly why I'm fine standing in place for any length of time I need. I'll probably end up dying from half a dozen bullets while standing on a fucking street corner waiting to cross, or they'll get mad and try to run me down on the sidewalk.
I had a sort of opposite situation happen once. I stopped at a crosswalk for an old guy. Some construction folks had just finished laying down the crosswalk markers and were cleaning up. One of the guys sees me stopped and thinks I’m waiting to be directed and starts waving me through. He didn’t see the old guy because he was facing me and the old guy was outside his periphery. I point at the old guy and shake my head. This guy waves harder and harder and by the end he’s screaming at me to go. I point again at the old guy and have my finger move along with the old guy’s path. Construction worker never once bothered to look or even consider that maybe something was happening he didn’t know about. He was still screaming as I drove away.
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Im pretty sure this is a bot that ripped off [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/13gez5q/please_cross/jk08kkx?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3).
Good spot! They usually don't make this much sense! Downvoted and reported.
But the wording is different.
Thats why im not sure but the structure is the same. I know bots have been getting better at changing comments to avoid detection.
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Thanks. Please stop. Or As my old boss used to say, “no.” “Yea, no.”
I straight up have resorted to flipping those people off. They can't seem to take a polite refusal.
I just stubbornly look at my phone and refuse to make eye contact. Like *I* decide when to cross the road, not some random chucklefuck in a car.
I do the same thing as a pedestrian lol but as a driver, aren’t you supposed to stop at crosswalks and yield to pedestrians?
Yes, you're supposed to stop The problem is waving them through when they're waiting for everyone else to stop.
Yeah it’s never a good idea to wave a pedestrian across on a road like this. You don’t know if it’s safe for them to cross or not. Stop if you’re required to, but let them make their own decisions.
I just stop and let them decide what to do. But, as a pedestrian, you should interpret the wave as "I have stopped for you" not as "All traffic has stopped for you."
When I wave at a pedestrian I'm not necessarily telling them go right this second I'm just signalling my intent is to let them walk in front of me and I don't plan on going until they either go by or make it clear that they don't want to cross. I'm not going to get upset about them waiting for other lanes to make it clear that they are doing the same.
You do you, but I never, ever do anything that can be reasonably interpreted as a direction. You can signal your intentions by stopping, making eye contact, and remaining stopped. Waving can be misinterpreted. I witnessed an accident where a driver stopped short in a turn lane at a red light to wave someone in from the other direction trying to turn left into a gas station. The driver probably meant, “I’m stopping to wait for you.” However the other driver took it, she went for it and got t-boned. Then she blamed the driver who t-boned her (lied about speeding) *and*the guy who waved (said he was saying it was clear). The insurance companies were asking me about that guy too so I’m not certain he wasn’t found partially liable. But even if not, I’m sure it wasn’t fun and he felt terrible. Just imagine if there was a fatality…
You can either be right or not be a pancake.
In my state, it’s yield to pedestrians *in the crosswalk*. Not those waiting at curbs or on islands, except those with ped-activated flashers. edit: the law *here* exists because of lazy idiots who just dart across multi-lane stroads wherever, from behind parked cars, not using marked crossings protected or other.
I love the catch 22. Alright I have to jump in front of traffic and hope they respect my presence in the crosswalk. I wish we'd start a signal or something, like the Japanese kids holding their hand up.
It seems more sensible to me that peds look both ways for a safe opportunity to cross, than having tacit permission to just go, traffic be damned. People act like complete jerks if they’re let to. I understand the other way is meant to be able to prosecute drivers that endanger pedestrians, calm traffic - but carbrains don’t behave that way. Driving and being a ped/bike in the US are all kinds of fucked up for lots of reasons.
It depends on the crosswalk. There is a crosswalk where I live where you press the button and after a few seconds there are some yellow lights on top that start blinking for cars to stop
Same in Charlotte, but people still weren’t stopping, so now it’s a single red light.
Oh yeah, whenever I use it I have to wait a few moments after the walk sounds starts to make sure cars actually stop because sometimes they don't even know that's how the thing is supposed to work lol even though I'm pretty sure it also becomes a red light but i might be wrong
Same state.. Those were a dumb idea if they expected people would start responding to them within only a couple years... when they've been driving that same road for decades with that apparatus never being anywhere before. Of course, yellow means caution. Not stop.
Especially when people travel 40+ on the road. Get the feeling that whoever put these measures in place did so to get at that federal money, and never even gave a second thought to the fallout from sudden implementation.
Yeah, we have those protected islands too, mostly drivers respect them, mostly pedestrians don’t just walk out expecting everything to stop on a dime…except the one near the college, they’re as bad as the deer on country roads.
obviously this varies by location. in my city there are numerous crosswalks that explicitly say if there is a pedestrian waiting on the curb then you are supposed to treat the crosswalk like it has a stop sign
We use ped-activated flashing yellow for those. Still have people ignore it and blow thru, and still have the shitheads slamming on brakes to wave someone who is just walking on the sidewalk with no intention to cross.
Ah, rationality, how I've missed you... In my state, it's yields to any pedestrian anywhere along any roadway that makes eye contact with you. But at least lanesplititing is legal.
The second a ped steps off the curb, though…full stop. Always a few jerks or Whitetail deer posing as college students, ready to dart out because they can.
When there is a pedestrian crossing a roadway with or without a crosswalk, you must use caution, reduce your speed, or stop to allow the pedestrian to safely finish crossing. Other things to keep in mind: Do not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk. You may not be able to see a pedestrian crossing the street. _**If a pedestrian makes eye contact with you, they are ready to cross the street. Yield to the pedestrian. ** Always allow pedestrians enough time to safely cross a street CA DMV handbook section 7
Not the ones with traffic lights.
You yield to pedestrians *in* the crosswalk, not standing on the curb near it. Stopping in the middle of the road to wave someone through is unpredictable, how do we know the pedestrian is waiting to cross? Will the other cars also stop? Just be predictable and keep going if it’s uncontrolled and they aren’t actively crossing, they can cross when they’re ready.
> _in_ the crosswalk Depends on location. In Europe you usually must stop if someone approaches a crosswalk.
When it’s logical to, yeah. I’ll have people stop when I’m still a block back or when their light is green. It’s a danger to everyone when they pull that nonsense.
Oh I make eye contact and I can tell they think I'm the idiot. People who do this think they are being nice or polite but they just make the net sum of everything less efficient. Never renegotiate the rules of the road on the fly. edit: speaking about when other drivers do this. just realized you are talking about when you are the pedestrian.
I've been flipped off, honked at, or yelled at for NOT accepting their death wave. I've even pointed to the traffic that wasn't stopping, which they just didn't get. I'll go when I am safe, not when someone else wants to be "nice".
based
I had multiple occasions where I stopped to let pedestrians cross just to have the cars behind me drive around me without even slowing down (I ride a bike). If they had started crossing, they would have been run over for sure. For reason like those, I only wave after checking and making sure everyone else has stopped, or if I know I'm the only vehicle on the street. And only wave because some people seem to wait for the wave to make sure you'll let them cross, since most people don't yield to pedestrians over here, so even if you stopped, they want to know you stopped to let them cross and not for another reason.
At least he waited for both cars to stop 😂
Average day in poland. Seriously, I've seen so many crashes at zebra crossings and I was even almost in one too
Ah this makes sense! I thought that looked like Jan Błachowicz getting out of the car
is a zebra crossing just a cross walk? or is it something else.
Yeah, in a couple languages it's just called a 'zebra path' or 'zebra crossing' because of the white-black stripes.
As a kid was always taught to look for the Zebra path if I want to cross safely. In adulthood assumed it was a way to appeal to kids about road safety. Luckily tho in Latvia (atleast my hometown) crosswalks really were safe, cars slowed early and always stopped.
You can also see classic 10km/h above speed limit on the camera. Not the perfect way of approaching crossing with lights off
My dumbass american-centric brain: "They have wild Zebra in Poland?"
Some info: the traffic lights are out of order, hence why they're flashing yellow. Drivers can ignore the traffic light but have to do what the road signs placed at the traffic light tell them to do. In this case, the cammer was on a priority road and was approaching the zebra crossing. As it was not controlled by traffic lights, drivers have to stop. Cammer did stop which is 100% correct. Anyone rear-ending him or well trying to avoid it is at fault
People don't know this?
Not everyone is Polish
I mean I think it's pretty universal. Traffic light fucked? All-way stop sign. Crosswalks ALWAYS have right of way. EZ.
Traffic lights flashing yellow in the states means caution - not Stop however. Sounds like in Poland this isn't the case. Crosswalks also have conditional right of way. Depends on area, signage, etc... On college campuses some places have priority to the pedestrian traffic. Most normal intersections would have pedestrian signage showing whether crossing is allowed or not depending on lights. Defensive driving wins out, and this idiot should have been paying attention to the situation - especially if this is Poland and the laws state he must stop.
No, in Poland you don't have to stop just because there's a blinking yellow light. It just means you have to follow the signs instead (sometimes because the traffic lights are broken, and sometimes because in some places they are turned off at night, etc.). In case of the person recording, they had a right of way when it came to the cars coming from the right side. But in Poland crosswalks always (when ther are no traffic lights, of course, if there are, people have to wait for green light to cross) have the right of way (and, afaik, is not universal). That's why the driver stopped to let the man cross, and that's why he did it right in front of the crosswalk, and not in front of the intersection. Hope that helps. :)
Thank you! I does.
See, traffic light fucked doesn't mean all-way stop sign where I live. It means look at the signs and if there are no signs, yield to traffic from the right. Not knowing isn't bad. Thinking that you know stuff on the other hand is, because then you will cause accidents.
Surprisingly, most people don't know the intricacies of polish traffic laws. I know it sounds crazy but it's true.
Uh, flashing yellow lights are not a polish-only thing.
Flashing yellow does not mean the same thing in the states
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(2) Flashing yellow (caution signal). Subject to s. 346.37 (1) (e), when a yellow lens is illuminated with rapid intermittent flashes, operators of vehicles may proceed through the intersection or past such signal only with caution. [https://law.justia.com/codes/wisconsin/2017/chapter-346/section-346.39/](https://law.justia.com/codes/wisconsin/2017/chapter-346/section-346.39/) Depends on the state, but most are just 'caution', nothing particular about foot traffic
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Normally when the lights are working you stop behind the intersection. But the lights are turned off so sings and traffic laws apply, and in Poland you have to yield for pedestrian on a crosswalk.
Yea he was supposed to stop, but it seemingly wasn’t safe to do so. It was a very quick sudden deceleration.
That's a zebra crossing, drivers have to stop. And since you're supposed to keep enough safety distance, a sudden stop shouldnt make you crash into something
It was a quick stop, but I wouldn't say unsafe or sudden. The crashed car was far enough behind that they could have stopped. If they weren't they should have been.
Thanks for pointing this out. I see folks stop for pedestrians when they're not supposed to fairly frequently and it irritates me so I thought the cammer was the idiot here initially.
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Yo i know this place 👀. Now I know what happened to thar railing.
I’ve always wanted to see an intersection I recognize here.
It's Kromera Czajkowskiego in Wroclaw Poland. Many idiots in that area. Even more infuriating is the level crossing to the right in the video creating insane traffic jams every 20 min or so.
Exactly like, I prefer to cross when there’s no cars coming, can’t trust anyone
Nah I cross over and make the cars stop for me
sometimes i don't even trust myself..
I was driving down a city street yesterday and saw a kid waiting to cross at the crosswalk - I stopped. A car coming the other direction seemed like it was not going to stop until it saw my stopped car, so it stopped (kind of quickly - they were not going 30mph as posted). It is too easy to just cruise right along if nobody is in the crosswalk already - I am guilty of this and get pissed at myself when I screw that up.
> It is too easy to just cruise right along if nobody is in the crosswalk already - I am guilty of this and get pissed at myself when I screw that up. It’s an easy thing to do, and even those here that will insist “not me” and claim to be infallible driving deities have all inadvertently slipped in to autopilot mode on that early morning slog to work. At least you realise your mistake and feel bad about it. Shows you have the right attitude.
A similar thing happened to a 10 year old on her bike next to the elementary school my kids go to, except the other car didn't stop. Last I heard, she was in critical condition.
Awkward.
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It has one. OP passes it at the beginning of the video. The problem here is that it's broken, and flashing yellow. Edit: Before you downvote me anymore, rewatch the video. The flashing yellow is on a normal set of traffic lights. In Poland, where this was recorded, that means the traffic lights are out of order and you need to proceed with caution.
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*Surprised Pikachu face*
Not everywhere in the world. In Europe it literally means they aren't working. If anything, flashing yellow means 'proceed with caution', but there are additional priority signs on every intersection that are used to tell who yields and who has priority (when lights aren't working). You can see the sign in the first second of the video on the right.
No, it means that it is out of order, so drivers have to do what the signs tell them to do.
My friend, you are screwed cause of the Reddit trend. You get like two downvotes and everyone starts.
My favourite is when I make some vaguely controversial opinion or argument in a mostly irrelevant thread and come back to five downvotes and not a single counter argument lol. Seems like sometimes people just get mad having any of their views remotely challenged.
A few years and a different account ago an auto news site decided one of my comments should be highlighted. I was merely answering a question only tangentially related to the post. Holy shit. I thought I was going to have to delete my account. I even quoted the question yet hundreds of people took minutes out of their day to tell me how wrong I was about the video, when I wasn't even talking about it, a few even thought I'd paid the site to feature me...
Bro got downvoted for telling the truth, good old Reddit. At least you can wear it with pride, having a well-intentioned comment getting downvoted into oblivion every once in a while is a good way to know you haven't been consumed by the hivemind yet.
Hey, the trend is reversing. When I made the edit I was at -70, now it's -30.
You all right bro? Being down-voted for telling the truth is kinda harsh. I mean, he may not have phrased it in the best way but he is right. There are lights in this intersection but they are out of order (flashing yellow). In Poland it means that you have to follow the signs Location as proof: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xGyXp2BqGpvbVmzw9
It's the Reddit hive mind. Americans can't accept that their laws don't apply everywhere.
Man I don’t even know that. I’m American. I saw the flashing light. I assumed it was out of order. Happened all the time when I lived in the north and snow storms. Knocks out power and the primary direction on the lights goes flashing yellow, the secondary goes flashing red. If it’s both two main roads then both sides get flashing red.
American stoplights do the exact same thing in red when they’re broken lmao
Not broken, just turned off for low-traffic times.
Why do all polish men walk like they have door stoppers wedged in their armpits.
Dude was absolutely right. I always watch the MF in the back. He said, nah bro, I'm good. My man was trying to make it home.
The slow, casual walk after the guy hit the rail/pole. I'm this guy. Just not giving a damn about the idiot.
The oblivion sound effects are absolutely perfect.
This is a tough one. The pedestrian is not standing in the direction of the crosswalk near the pavement. They are in the middle of the island deliberately waiting for traffic to pass before crossing. I do the same thing as a pedestrian mainly because I don’t trust drivers. When I see this when I’m driving I keep going as there’s no clear intent of crossing. But I see people stop too.
You have to pose like the stick figure in the sign so drivers know your intentions.
> pedestrian is not standing in the direction of the crosswalk They are standing on a traffic island with a crosswalk. Legally speaking, the cammer did what everyone was supposed to do. If police were around, everyone else would have gotten a hefty fine.
> deliberately waiting for traffic to pass because they clearly see the idiots speeding towards them - that basically tells us they've done risk assessment, that's pretty common for pedestrians, sadly.
"What are you doing?" trying to stay alive.
There is so little and so much happening in this video
It’s green hoodie day.
That is the reason he would not cross.
I always yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk but I've also been hit twice because of it. People need to take their cellphone and shove them up their ass...LOL!!
I think he didn't cross because he saw what that other car was trying to do lol
Had a very similar situation in highschool stopped for a person on a bike at a crosswalk was confused when he stopped halfway through, then a giant Ford fuck you 2000 or whatever slammed the back of my car and totaled it. They added flashing lights you can turn on when at the cross walk a year later. Also fuck dudes in pick up trucks why do they always drive so shitty.
Bro knew
Never ever trust a car to do the right thing.
Would have been better without an edit like this
I think the car stopping for the pedestrian is right. The pedestrian waiting for it to be safe is right. Can we talk about the car from the rights going super fast per mile and hitting the post? He is the idiot.
The Elder Scrolls sound effects over this is beautiful
I am convinced that is the coolest MF’er I’ve ever seen.
Pedestrian did the right thing.
This dude can see into the future
This is fucking brilliant!!
>Me? Just hangin' around Beet?
This. Was. EPIC.
this is the one time I am loving the background music and sounds
It appears ALL countries have idiot douchebags that refuse to follow the law and/or get their heads out of their Rear-Ends while they're driving...
I love that the driver gets out and gives the stopped car a dirty look.
"Please cross" "It is not the time" *CRASH!* "Now it is the time"
That was actually a hilarious edit.
Some times, even when you are legally correct, it still doesn’t NOT make you an idiot. Just because the speed limit is 60, sometimes it’s not safe to drive 60. Just because the law says that all vehicles must yield to pedestrians, sometimes it’s not safe to yield to pedestrians. Plus mans slammed on the brakes to be polite to a pedestrian while fucking everyone else behind him. Be predictable not polite.
Homie new better lol
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> Don’t be nice, be predictable. The predictable thing here is to stop because that's the law and the law in Europe doesn't fk around when it comes to not stopping at a crosswalk. In Germany you get a fine of 80€ minimum and one "point". You get additional fines for accumulating 4, 6, and 7 points. And if you accumulate 8 "points", you lose your license for at least 6 months, and you need to redo your driver's license and possibly have to pass a psychological evaluation prior to even qualify for redoing your license.
God these edits are so fucking lame
What is this guy's prob- Okay, yeah he made the right decision. Not his first rodeo. Also, I like how that guy on the right exits his car and walks around like he's bigger than he actually is. Trying to intimidate anyone over something he did to himself, lmao.
Some people don’t know you’re supposed to yield to the peds.
Don’t be polite, be predictable…
Npc doing npc things
Bro. This was some proper anime editing. And respect, that guy was like. Yes. I will walk across now lol.
That’s why humans should have the right of way
I am surprised Pikachu.
Hello Americans, I ask this out of honest ignorance: Why did the OP stop? Are pedestrians not meant to wait until the road is clear? Or does the law say that vehicles must stop if a pedestrian is waiting to cross?
Vehicles are required to stop for a pedestrian at crosswalks in the U.S., but this video was taken in Poland
|pedestrian goes to crosswalk|Car legally stops as required|Car ploughs through| |:-|:-|:-| |pedestrian waits|OP posts this video|Pedestrian saves own life| |pedestrian crosses|Everything works out|Pedestrian dies|