Pedestrians Asking For It?
Another school bus vs. pedestrian accident, this time in Eureka. That last one in Fortuna, under different circumstances, resulted in the pedestrian dying.
Information on this last one is sketchy. It looks to me as if the girl might have deliberately walked in front of the school bus. Why go to the hospital when you weren't even knocked to the ground and had no visible injuries? An easy insurance settlement, perhaps?
Funny that this isn't the first time I've heard of or noticed brazen pedestrian behavior over the last 3 days. Two days in a row- Tuesday and Wednesday- I've been driving down Buhne Street in Eureka during the afternoon. Both incidents happened within three blocks of each other.
Two guys in their late teens or early twenties look right at my car and walk out into the street in front of me. I was less than 50 feet from both of them. At least they gave me enough distance to slow down. They knew I was there and was driving normal speed. Did they want to get hit or were they just trying to jerk me around by making me slow down and stop real fast?
Wish there was a way for guys like that to get ticketed.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:26 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Make a citizen's arrest, Fred. You can't let these pesky kids destroy our country!
There is the fact that pedestrians have the right of way. Of course, it's presumptive of them to exercise it.
Pedestrians do not always have the right of way. They must obey stop lights, but quite a few do not. They cannot cross the street anywhere they want. The idea is to make it predictable for drivers, so pedestrians do not get hit.
Have to agree with Fred. Pedestrians may have the right of way but if you are driving a car on 4th or 5th street at a legal speed and someone just steps off the curb almost in front of you it may be difficult to stop. Maybe those people have not driven a car and do not realize that it takes a few feet at 30 mph to stop not a few inches.
I've written here before about pedestrians that seem to think they own the road and expect drivers to take all the due caution.
With these last two guys I think it was something different, although I've seen similar things many times. It was as if they were challenging me, or just wanted to be jerks and show they had the power to make me slow down.
I mentioned some time ago about a gal that ignored the red light while walking across E street and Henderson during the lunch hour. She walked right out in front of me as I was driving through the intersection and I had to stop in that intersection to let her cross. She just looked at me, smiled and waved.
At least she did that much. Both these other guys started walking across the street, looked at me and kept on going, even though they were about to cross my path. Then they turned away and kept on walking as if the just knew I had to slow down or stop for them.
Funny how I often joke with people I see standing on the corner of the street waiting for traffic to clear so they can cross. I'll often say, "Just go ahead and cross. They'll stop. They usually laugh.
Now it doesn't seem so funny as someone seems to have taken me seriously, started spreading that around and now a bunch of people are doing it!
Yes, pedestrians have the right of way. They are right... often dead right. We don't have any stop signs at some of the crosswalks in Garberville, I often see people walk right out into the street without even looking. I'm wondering if the people in Humboldt County think that they are somehow immune to any rules of society, like common politenes. Maybe that's why we have a higher death rate.
Don't even get me started on rude and disrespectful bicycle riders, that whip in and out of traffic because they don't want to loose their pace.
Hey Fred, do what I used to do when driving big rig, throttle down. They get the picture in a heartbeat. Teaches them that they SHARE the road and that they DO NOT have the right of way in all circumstances. But, then don't get me started on Branscomb. He assumptions rarely meet the truth test.
Hey Fred, do what I used to do when driving big rig, throttle down. They get the picture in a heartbeat. Teaches them that they SHARE the road and that they DO NOT have the right of way in all circumstances. But, then don't get me started on Branscomb. He assumptions rarely meet the truth test.
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