J Walking?

[observer]

As anyone noticed if this is on the increase? Noticed a couple of occasions when retards have been crossing on a pelican when the cars have a green light - is there an assumption that the cars will always stop for them?

[Bazj]

Run 'em over.... they won't do it again in a hurry!!

 

You are right though Obs (much as it pains me to agree ) I have found since those infernal lights went up near me in Westbrook that people will press the button and then expect that the lights will instantly change to let them cross. If they don't change they lose patience and chance running across between the cars.

 

I almost flattened a stupid woman pushing a pram as I was turning right off Cromwell onto Westbrook Crescent a month or two ago. She walked out with the red man showing and then glared and gesticulated at me as though I should have expected her to do it.

[Bill]

In all fairness to the pedestrian, some of the pelican crossings are pretty useless being biased far too much towards the motorist.

 

I used to use the one on Manchester Road just near the Elf Garage and would often wait for several minutes when the traffic was busy. More often than not I would end up crossing when there was a sizeable break in the traffic only to see the lights changing some time later and the traffic then having to stop for nobody.

 

Bill

[wolfie]

There are some roads you would never get across if you didn't chance your arm or is it your foot at jay walking. Seems to me that most of the 'retards' are behind the wheel.

[Evil Sid]

must admit bill i know that feeling well having had to stop several times at them with no person even in sight on the street.

 

the one near the hospital is a prime example there will be a run of traffic whilst you are waiting for the light to change then nothing and still no light change. so you cross the road only for the light to change as you set foot on the opposite side.

 

as for people jaywalking it does seem to be on the increase i have come across a few in the last week alone. one chap seemed most surprised as i nearly took his leg off when he stepped blithely out into the oncoming traffic. he was so intent on talking on his phone he did not even glance at the road until i trundle past at twenty mph.

 

another was a group of people carrying on a conversation in the middle of the road, ok it was in a side street and not a main road but it staggers the imagination that they thought that the middle of the road was a good place to talk.

 

it is a well known fact that an articulated lorry can stop in three feet from thirty mph isn't it. just ask the number of young mothers who will calmly push the pram out into the road as one approaches and then stand glaring at the driver as he swerves to avoid them.

 

finally there are the ones who think that walking an extra four feet to a crossing is just too much. i have seen many people watching for a gap in traffic to dash across the road when a further four or five steps would have taken them to a zebra or pelican crossing. again the one near the hospital is a prime example.

 

it may be that some of these also carry this trait over to their driving as well judging from the amount of people who will pull halfway into the road to ensure they can get out at junctions.

 

aaaagh enough of this you have all experienced it

[observer]

Perhaps "common sense" should be on the school curriculum?

[Peter T]

People seem to be programmed to press the button at lights rather than think.

Most of the main junction crossings are tied in to the traffic lights, and therefore no amount of pressing makes any difference.

 

Don't parents teach road sense any more?

 

Another thing I have noticed lately, is the inability to judge distances when exiting a side road.

A vehicle can be 200 yards away doing 30, and drivers will still sit there and wait. The mind boggles.

 

Isn't this jay walking linked to the "wrapped in cotton wool" system, where people don't know danger?

[observer]

Perhaps Bear Grills needs to do a series round Town?!

[Dizzy]

As anyone noticed if this is on the increase? Noticed a couple of occasions when retards have been crossing on a pelican when the cars have a green light - is there an assumption that the cars will always stop for them?

 

Yep... worst cases I've seen (and this has been for the past 3 years) is kids coming home from school. Yes I will name and shame the school and it's idiotic invincible kids in the hope I can at least save one of their stupid lives !

 

BRIGDEWATER HIGH SCHOOL... UPPER AND LOWER SITES... !

 

Some of these kids never cease to amaze me with their stupidity and lack of road sense... how on earth they have survived so long is a mystery and WHY do they think there is no need to stop or look first as they walk out infront of cars regardless of wether there are crossings, lights on red or anything else.

 

Guess teenagers are right and they are invincible after all.... for a while anyway

[observer]

Perhaps the Government's idea of turning us into Stepford Britain, isn't so bad after all?!

[asperity]

I've noticed that with kids these days. They are practically daring you to run them down!! You can see it in their faces. They just walk out into the traffic as if it were their right.

[observer]

On a quick trip to Town: a bloke in a JAG came straight out onto the main road, stopping all oncoming traffic so he could turn right - just wished I'd had an old armoured car so I could have ploughed into him, cos he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on. Then a gang of kids, crossing at a traffic light junction, never even looked at the lights, just crossed lazily in front of me when I got the green light - perhaps a tazer on the front bumber would help?!

[Geoffrey Settle]

I always find Sankey Street in Town tricky, pedestrians there appear to walk backwards into the road. Maybe there is some sort of jay walking competition going on for the most adventurous creative move in stupidity stakes promoted by the CCTV cameras?

Strictly Jay Walking

[Peter T]

Apply to the Ministry of Silly Walks.

[disgusted]

There are some roads you would never get across if you didn't chance your arm or is it your foot at jay walking. Seems to me that most of the 'retards' are behind the wheel.

So you're saying when the lights are red, and the green man shows you can't cross, but chancing it on the opposite signal is less risky. LOL, a huge big LOL.

 

As Baz says, the new Asda lights are the perfect example, perhaps one time in ten do I see pedestrians actually wait for their rotation of lights to cross, normally they just see a gap and go, makes you wonder whta all the fuss was about in the first place?

 

Perhaps as these were put in at the behest of those self same whinging pedestrians, the police could spend a day chasing jay walkers instead of motorists doing 31mph for a change.

[KeithR]

I didn't know that there were pedestrian lights on every road

[Bazj]

I didn't know that there were pedestrian lights on every road

 

Nobody has said there are Keith. Just that when they are installed (at considerable expense to the taxpayer) they are not used or are misused in so much as the button is pressed and then the pedestrian legs it across the road in a gap in the traffic rather than waiting until the lights change for them

 

I thenk pedestrian education rather than driver education si what is needed here!

[Peter T]

Is it against the law to Jay walk?

[wolfie]

How many times have you seen a car go through a red light nuff said

[disgusted]

How many times have you seen a car go through a red light nuff said

Agreed, it's very very rare, cyclists however, or pedestrians crossing on green (red man) are another thing entirely

[wolfie]

fatshaft, - rocking horse manure is rare. Driving through red lights is common.

 

Automatic cameras at red lights were "tripped" 106,000 times in London over the past year - nearly 300 times each day.

117 road-users were spotted charging through the lights in a three-hour period.

 

J walkers are doing what they would normally do if they were driving. They all need educating not just the pedestrians.

[Bill]

I think you have a pretty thin point there Wolfie because if you could get similar stats for pedestrians who cross on the red man I?d think you?d find it would probably be hundreds if not thousands of times higher. Fact is that you just don?t see motorists getting fed up waiting at lights and then deciding to go through on red unless of course the lights get stuck.

 

The main problem with the some of the pelicans in my opinion is that they?re too biased in favour of the motorist. At some point the traffic has to stop so why not make it much sooner and that way people wouldn?t get frustrated. And if you think back to the zebera crossing that these replaced, the traffic had to stop the moment a pedestrian stepped out.

 

I agree 100% about some of these crossings being an expensive waste of time. God only knows how much has been spent providing a crossing point at the junction of Manchester Road near the M6 and for who? Hardly anyone lives down that way and in fact I bet no more than a couple of people per day cross if that and those that do will probably just wait for a break in the traffic then cross.

 

Bill

[disgusted]

fatshaft, - rocking horse manure is rare. Driving through red lights is common.

 

Automatic cameras at red lights were "tripped" 106,000 times in London over the past year - nearly 300 times each day.

117 road-users were spotted charging through the lights in a three-hour period.

 

J walkers are doing what they would normally do if they were driving. They all need educating not just the pedestrians.

6000 traffic lights in London, so one in twenty will have one car per day jump the lights. Not common in my eyes at all. Certainly a drop in the ocean compared to Jay walkers.

[wolfie]

Bill, you can't have it both ways

similar stats for pedestrians who cross on the red man I?d think you?d find it would probably be hundreds if not thousands of times higher.

and

I bet no more than a couple of people per day cross

 

You are correct to a point in that you just don?t see motorists getting fed up waiting at lights and then deciding to go through on red - what happens is that once the lights change to red half a dozen motorists sneek through. How many times have you as a driver started off at a junction on green only to see that traffic from the side is still passing through on red?

[Bill]

I think your getting a bit muddled with your logic Wolfie. The problem in any case isn?t down to sneaking across at the last moment by both pedestrians and motorists alike it?s the fact that so many of the crossings are often ill thought out and or poorly set up and this is what leads to frustration on both sides.

 

Having to wait forever to cross is frustrating, as is having to stop at a pelican when the person has long since crossed and this wouldn?t happen if they were set up properly. I?m talking here main roads with low pedestrian numbers rather than say in town crossings where a compromise has to be achieved.

 

A simple cancel facility should be provided whereby if you do get a safe opportunity to cross, then at least you could prevent stopping the cars unnecessarily. But again this wouldn?t be needed if they didn?t make you wait so flippin long.

 

Bill