There ain't no such thing as jaywalking

Porgy
Porgy Posts: 4,525
edited August 2009 in Commuting chat
I've just been pranged by some nooby crappy nitwit cyclist who was unable to see me on the road from 100 yards away, apparently unable to recognise that she was approaching a busy junction with a give way line, and then unable to control the bike on an otherwise empty road, whilst travelling at 3 mph, in order to avoid me, or to apply the brakes.

So she hit me.

That was nothing - she then accused me of jaywaking.

So I had to give her the "jaywalking is bullsh.it in Great Britain - does not exist in law and I had right of way as a pedestrian crossing at a junction speech."

She didn;t believe me - so I told her that I cycled 30 miles a day at least - I could've pointed to my bike chained up not 30 yards away and I always choose to give way to or avoid hitting at least if ever in that situation.... and her reply was "like fcuk you do".

then she proceeded to cycle off petulantly straight through a pedstrian crossing at red.



anyway - i expect to get flamed for this as there are plenty of people who post on these boards who feel the same as my nitwit nooby friend.

Comments

  • il_principe
    il_principe Posts: 9,155
    Silly bint.
  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    Dawdling pedestrians get right on my tits. Having said that I wouldn't resort to running into them, might knock my front wheel out of true.
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    _Brun_ wrote:
    Dawdling pedestrians get right on my tits. Having said that I wouldn't resort to running into them, might knock my front wheel out of true.

    I wasn't dawdling, I was walking purposefully to the other side.

    You might not like it, but they have right of way - and you/we have to slow down/ stop for give way lines.
  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    Pedestrians do not have the right to walk into the road and expect traffic to stop for them. Otherwise what would be the point of zebra crossings? They do have 'priority' when already crossing a junction that a vehicle is turning into.

    If the road was clear enough for her to see you 'from 100 yards away', then the opposite is true and it sounds to me like you should've waited for the road to be clear before crossing. Just like you would if it was a car approaching and not a bike.

    I do agree that her reaction to the situation was pretty stupid. You should've hit the deck and rolled around in C. Ronaldo style 'agony'.
  • ellieb
    ellieb Posts: 436
    Sorry, but from what you are saying, it seems like you are in the wrong here. Where do you get the idea that you have the 'right of way at a junction' ?

    Relevant bit of the highway code.

    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070108
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    ellieb wrote:
    Sorry, but from what you are saying, it seems like you are in the wrong here. Where do you get the idea that you have the 'right of way at a junction' ?

    Relevant bit of the highway code.

    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070108

    Road users must give way to pedestrians already crossing a junction.
  • ellieb
    ellieb Posts: 436
    Yes, but the onus is on the pedestrian to look first and not cross if traffic is coming.

    The junction bit is to allow peds to cross the road when they can't tell if a vehicle is coming around the corner. It doesn't mean that peds have 'right of way' at junctions.

    relevant para:

    8

    At a junction. When crossing the road, look out for traffic turning into the road, especially from behind you. If you have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road, you have priority and they should give way (see Rule 170).


    The key bit is that it refers to traffic turning into the road.

    Otherwise as _Brun_ says, why would you bother having a zebra?
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    170
    Take extra care at junctions. You should

    watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way

    This is the rule 170 for cars - applies to cyclists too - looks like i wasn't completely correct there, but the point stands - she was about to stop anyway so letting me continue to cross - i was 95% of the way across - was the obviously correct thing to do. I expected her to just go behind me - it's what any other cyclist - including me - would have done there - i've been crossing that road with no incident for a year now.

    She was wrong to call me a jaywalker - no such thing - my main point.

    She was also wrong to insist on riding into me - I don;t think there's any rule in the Highway Code which encourages cyclists to ride into pedestrians - ir even allows them to.

    This particular junction is very difficult for pedestrians with potential for traffic to come from 4 or 5 different directions - it may be becasue I am autistic but I find it almost totally impossible to be aware of traffic 360 degrees around me; I do my best and sometimes make mistakes. If i see a slow moving cyclist I have to assume that they'll just find a way around me I'm afraid....it's what I'm used to doing here. and as I say - you have to stop anyway it's a give way.
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    ellieb wrote:
    Yes, but the onus is on the pedestrian to look first and not cross if traffic is coming.

    The junction bit is to allow peds to cross the road when they can't tell if a vehicle is coming around the corner. It doesn't mean that peds have 'right of way' at junctions.

    relevant para:

    8

    At a junction. When crossing the road, look out for traffic turning into the road, especially from behind you. If you have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road, you have priority and they should give way (see Rule 170).


    The key bit is that it refers to traffic turning into the road.
    Otherwise as _Brun_ says, why would you bother having a zebra?

    there's no zebra on this road.

    cyclists have to stop anyway att he give way line.

    it's very difficult to anticipate traffic coming from one of about 4 or 5 different directions including cyclists wizzing past at high speed on the wrong side of the road, most people are more concerned not to get a lorry or a taxi driving over them.

    Cyclists should be aware of the difficulties that peds have to contend with - and this girl was an idiot and should have gone around me.
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    edited August 2009
    I have to say there's a lot of confusion here. I understood that peds always have right of way on the roads - in fact I used to have the relevant bit ear-marked in my copy of the HC.

    Don;t know if this has made it into the latest HC - but I doubt that the principle has changed.

    can anyone clarify this?



    Just realised - my 1000th post! yay!!! 8)
  • tjwood
    tjwood Posts: 328
    Nobody has any more right to be on the road than anyone else, and no class of road user has a default priority/right of way.

    If a car/bus/truck was coming towards you, at a speed which would not leave you sufficient time to safely cross the road, you wouldn't cross the road (and you'd be mighty stupid to do so and assume they would stop for you). So don't do it if a cyclist is coming towards you.

    A reminder of the Green Cross Code ;-):
    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070108
    or if you want a bit more fun
    http://talesoftheroad.direct.gov.uk/
  • coffeecup
    coffeecup Posts: 128
    Jay Walking is an offence in Northern Ireland.. so strictly speaking you're not correct to say that it's not an offence in the UK.... :roll:

    not often enforced, but you can get a £30 ticket...
    Time you've enjoyed wasting, hasn't been wasted

    Bianchi L'Una, Bianchi 928 C2C 105, Dahon MU SL
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    The way i look at it - we all have to share the road. she didn't go behind me because she wanted to make a point about me jaywalking. as i have alreayd said - no such thing. she should have gone behind me - she was only going 3 mph ffs.

    On the way home tonight - i had many many pedestrians walk out in front of me, and at higher speeds of 3 mph. i didn;t try to run one of them down - i went around them - or if i couldn't i tinkled my bell or stopped to give way. it's the only civilised way.

    speaking of which it was my great displeasure to be riding behind an ignorant git on the canal towpath the other day - i first cast eyes on him when he undertook me as i was moving left to give way to a walker - he said sorry - but it was him that nearly ended up in the canal.

    after that he trundled along at quite a speed and instead of slowing down for walkers he beeped his very loud horn - even at elderly and infirm looking people.

    unfortunately because i was going along behind him for some of the time - he kept stopping to look at his phone which is why i kept catching him up - i got the dagger looks too and people were throwing themselves into the wall in case they got run over.

    oh hum....
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    coffeecup wrote:
    Jay Walking is an offence in Northern Ireland.. so strictly speaking you're not correct to say that it's not an offence in the UK.... :roll:

    not often enforced, but you can get a £30 ticket...

    i wasn't in northern ireland - how pedantic can you get?

    ok - not Great Britain then, mr rolly eyes - i'd get them fixed.
  • coffeecup
    coffeecup Posts: 128
    "So I had to give her the "jaywalking is bullsh.it in the UK - does not exist in law"

    whatever, dude.... :roll:

    gettin hit by a bike doing 3mph is pretty lame... you wanna get your own eyes checked before you get mown down by a milk float or sumfink...
    Time you've enjoyed wasting, hasn't been wasted

    Bianchi L'Una, Bianchi 928 C2C 105, Dahon MU SL
  • tjwood
    tjwood Posts: 328
    With the greatest respect, it seems like you might have a more enjoyable time as both a cyclist and a pedestrian (and perhaps a driver, I don't know if you drive) if you alter your attitude a little. A little humility goes a long way. Even if something is "someone else's fault", any incident involving you and someone else wouldn't have happened if you weren't present, so you have to think about what you could have done differently to avoid the situation.

    In the words of Ice Cube, "you better check yourself before you wreck yourself"... :wink:
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    Give way junctions. means stop, look, then proceed. You'd fail your driving test if you didn't stop first.

    OP was already crossing..cyclist being an ass.
  • tjwood
    tjwood Posts: 328
    fossyant wrote:
    Give way junctions. means stop, look, then proceed. You'd fail your driving test if you didn't stop first.
    Um, no it doesn't, and no you wouldn't. Give Way means "you must give way to traffic on the main road". Stop means "You must stop behind the line... Wait for a safe gap in the traffic before you move off." (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_070332)

    The distinction is irrelevant in the OP's case. Even if it was a stop junction then you can't expect the vehicle to stop way short of the line just because you feel like walking out in front of them.
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    Anyway...........cyclist was an ass..........
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    coffeecup wrote:
    "So I had to give her the "jaywalking is bullsh.it in the UK - does not exist in law"

    whatever, dude.... :roll:

    gettin hit by a bike doing 3mph is pretty lame... you wanna get your own eyes checked before you get mown down by a milk float or sumfink...

    haven't you got something better to do than being an irritating pedantic tit?
  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    fossyant wrote:
    Give way junctions. means stop, look, then proceed. You'd fail your driving test if you didn't stop first
    Words fail me, simply for the fact that such an authoritative statement suggests you actually passed a driving test.
  • ellieb
    ellieb Posts: 436
    Give way junctions. means stop, look, then proceed. You'd fail your driving test if you didn't stop first

    If that was the case, why do we have 'stop' junctions?
    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /index.htm You'll note that there is both a Stop and a GIVE WAY sign
    There is no requirement to stop at a give way. The requirement is to make sure you can see if there is anything coming and then give way to it. This may require stopping.
  • coffeecup
    coffeecup Posts: 128
    Porgy wrote:
    coffeecup wrote:
    "So I had to give her the "jaywalking is bullsh.it in the UK - does not exist in law"

    whatever, dude.... :roll:

    gettin hit by a bike doing 3mph is pretty lame... you wanna get your own eyes checked before you get mown down by a milk float or sumfink...

    haven't you got something better to do than being an irritating pedantic tit?

    and debating in some considerable depth the appropriate application of rule 170 of the highway code isn't being pedantic??....

    get a life dude...

    l8r
    Time you've enjoyed wasting, hasn't been wasted

    Bianchi L'Una, Bianchi 928 C2C 105, Dahon MU SL
  • _Brun_
    _Brun_ Posts: 1,740
    coffeecup wrote:
    Jay Walking is an offence in Northern Ireland.. so strictly speaking you're not correct to say that it's not an offence in the UK.... :roll:
    What's 'strictly speaking' other than an admission of being pedantic?
  • Aidy
    Aidy Posts: 2,015
    Porgy wrote:
    I've just been pranged by some nooby crappy nitwit cyclist who was unable to see me on the road from 100 yards away, apparently unable to recognise that she was approaching a busy junction with a give way line, and then unable to control the bike on an otherwise empty road, whilst travelling at 3 mph, in order to avoid me, or to apply the brakes.

    Wait, was it an busy, or empty? :)

    Either way, she sounds like a bit of an idiot, clipping a pedestrian should warrant an apology, even if the pedestrian hasn't acted in the most helpful of ways (I'm generalising, not refering to Porgy).

    And you're quite correct, there's no concept of jaywalking in England - but pedestrians don't automatically have right of way at junctions either. my understanding is that It's very much based on who is interupting whose natural progression.

    In any case, there's some burden of common sense that has to be applied, just because someone has right of way, doesn't necessarily mean it's safe/sensible to excercise it (again, not talking about this particular case).
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Porgy wrote:
    I have to say there's a lot of confusion here. I understood that peds always have right of way on the roads - in fact I used to have the relevant bit ear-marked in my copy of the HC.

    Don;t know if this has made it into the latest HC - but I doubt that the principle has changed.

    can anyone clarify this?



    Just realised - my 1000th post! yay!!! 8)

    I can't believe that peds have right of way on the roads outisde the bit about already crossing at a junction when a vehicle is turning. If peds always had priority, they could cross absolutely anywhere and vehicles would have to stop. There would be no need for zebra, pelican etc crossings because peds could simply walk into the road wherever and traffic would have to screech to a halt.

    I have to say wandering peds are the bane of my life. Luckily in London most peds are very aware of cyclists these days, but there's always one that walks out in front of you, especially on quieter roads when they do that long, slow, diagonal walk across the road. Get out of the bloody road, you tw@t!

    Having said that this woman sounds like she had a nasty attitude...
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