I Almost Killed A Child

[Kim]

I had a deer run into the side of my car once. He was more concerned with where the female he was pursuing was going that he was with where he was going. She darted in front of my hard braking but not quite stopped car and he ran right into the drivers side door, looked at me in a bit of a daze and then ran off again. He did a bit over $700 in damage.

Isn't love wonderful? :11:

 

[JaX NeMo]

Kim... I rather say "Look! That's how blind love is!!!"

 

[Dan Gibson]

Only in designated areas. Some idiot walking out onto an interstate does not. Not that they would get hurt since all your vehicles out there are at a standstill and people can walk faster

It's even better in California, where pedestrians have the right of way.

 

[Green Mountain]

The other day I heard on the news a clever idea started in a town near here.

The pedestrian has the right of way in the intersection but it is in a congested area and the person walking was sometimes not noticed in time. There were many accidents so they tried using orange flags.

On each side of the street there is a bucket of orange flags. When a person wants to cross he holds out the orange flag and proceeds to cross. On the other side of the street he deposits his flag in the barrel and he is on his way.

Other towns have successfully tried this program or precaution. They anticipate that the kids will steal the flags for a while. But the flags are inexpensive and the kids leave them alone after a month or so. No thrill is left in swipeing them.

 

[sdstahl]

The other day I heard on the news a clever idea started in a town near here.

The pedestrian has the right of way in the intersection but it is in a congested area and the person walking was sometimes not noticed in time. There were many accidents so they tried using orange flags.

On each side of the street there is a bucket of orange flags. When a person wants to cross he holds out the orange flag and proceeds to cross. On the other side of the street he deposits his flag in the barrel and he is on his way.

Other towns have successfully tried this program or precaution. They anticipate that the kids will steal the flags for a while. But the flags are inexpensive and the kids leave them alone after a month or so. No thrill is left in swipeing them.

This is gettin grather absurd, when I was a very little boy I was taught to look both ways before crossing otherwise I could get run over. One of the few lessons I believed immediately and never had to test. What the @#$% is wrong with people these days! I agree with the natural selection theory. Cros when it's safe lets run down the rest and make more room for the rest of us.

 

[RIDIVER501]

I would check on that Blanket statement of pedestrians having the right of way becuase that isn't entirely true and how it is applied varies from state to state.
Here in the good ole sate of RI.
Pedestrians have the right of way in uncontrolled crosswalks, which means that they only have the right of way over a car in a cross walk that does not have a "walk/Don't walk" light. If they are in a cross walk with a light they have to obey that light and not cross when the light says don't cross. Additionally, if they aren't in a cross walk at all then they are J-walking which opens up a whole other can of worms. but suffice it to say in RI when J-walking a pedestrian doesn't have the right of way.
I would check with your states DMV on that statement becuase there are rules out there that pedestrians are supposed to abide by.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

J-walking is perhaps the most serious threat as it creates the potential for a person to step out from behind a parked car/truck/van and allows the driver little or no time to see and avoid the person. At least at most intersections the lines of sight are a little more condusive to seeing and avoiding morons.

 

[JaX NeMo]

At the sametime, I would like to ask how would the law place judgement if a scenario as follows happens:

I was driving along a road that says 50kph at 30kph. And a little boy suddenly jump about 1 meter infront of my car. And I can't stop in time, naturally. And I killed the boy.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Jax the deal is you've already stated that you have a problem driving slow and have deflected all blame to the boy, so you weren't driving slow.

 

[Kim]

Guys - I think it's hard to compare driving in different countries and treat them equally. What's normal in one place isn't somewhere else. Kids growing up are taught about the local conditions, because they are the ones that matter. At the end of the day a pedestrian is always going to lose against a car - and people should behave accordingly. There's no point being right - but dead. Children need to be educated about the dangers of traffic and not take things for granted.