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03 November 2006

AskMeCha: Crossing the street [More:]Ok, lemme set the scene. I was walking back to lab after lunch and must cross an intersection in which most of the cars turn left crossing my path (or hitting me). I wait for the light to turn green but the little man doesn't appear and I start to walk. Now, the little man only appears when you press the button but nobody uses the button because you have to wait at least one set of lights for him to appear (some timed delay thing). This can be quite a long wait as one set of traffic lights is sensor-activated. So I cross with the green light. The cars turning left usually wait for me to cross, which doesn't take that long as I have full mobility. Today, however, I got honked at and a rude little man gestured that I was crossing at the wrong time. My response was to flip him off (reflex to being honked at - I'm not that nice a person) and yell "Pedestrians have the right of way!"

Now Bunnies, I ask you: who was in the wrong? I'm fully willing to accept that it was me (but will cross the street with the traffic light as opposed to the little man) but I'm thinking it was the fat, hick in the ugly truck.

Extra info for bunnies: there is no left-turn lane, arrow or flashing green. Just one green light.
He was wrong. Pedestrians in crosswalks crossing with the light are right.
posted by mudpuppie 03 November | 14:50
I don't know if anyone has the right of way according to the law; I think the law only says who must yield the right of way (at least, in some places; can't speak for the whole country/world). That said, that guy sounds like a douche and good for you for yelling at him. I like yelling at bad drivers.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 November | 14:52
I'll kill him.
posted by sciurus 03 November | 14:57
It seems like a driver making a left is almost always wrong if something goes wrong. I went to driving school last weekend for a speeding ticket and learned a few things. The instructor told us that if you're waiting to make a left turn with your wheels already pointing to the left and you're read-ended, causing you to move forward into on-coming traffic, then the collision with th e on-coming vehicle is your fault. The guy behind you will get a ticket for read-ending you though, but not for the chain reaction.

Uh...anyway, what was the point? Oh yeah, the driver was clearly in the wrong. He must yield to just about everything unless he has a green arrow.
posted by mullacc 03 November | 15:08
People who honk at pedestrians from their little oblong steel coffins should shut the fuck up no matter when, where, or how the situation panned out.
posted by appidydafoo 03 November | 15:16
Where do you live, LF? See if you can find the city ordinances online, or see if the library has them. I think you were totally in the right, but I suppose it's just barely possible the city law says there has to be the walking man light on to cross at intersections with traffic lights, but I'd be really surprised if that were the case.

Here's a funny story: There are lots of crosswalks here where I work, and one day the guy I'm dating was leaving, and he was really tired and in a bad mood, and while he was in the middle of the crosswalk a car HONKED at him, and he goes bellowing over to the car and let the bitch driver have it, all this stuff about pedestrians and the law, . . . . and then he realized it was a friend of his who was honking to say hello. Ooops.
posted by JanetLand 03 November | 15:16
If it's an unprotected left turn (and you indicated as much) those cars have to yield to oncoming traffic, so it makes sense that they should yield to pedestrian traffic as well. When I'm driving, I don't even pay attention to the little man signals -- they're there for the benefit of the pedestrians, not the vehicles.
posted by Atom Eyes 03 November | 15:19
Who's in the wrong? The person who programmed the time delay thing.
posted by danostuporstar 03 November | 15:20
dano: I agree. I don't understand why it has to take so long for it to appear. The only people I see that use it are tourists (or at least the look like tourists as the have cameras and maps and have that general confused look that all tourists seem to get) because it just takes so damned long!
posted by LunaticFringe 03 November | 15:25
People who honk at pedestrians from their little oblong steel coffins should shut the fuck up no matter when, where, or how the situation panned out.
posted by appidydafoo 03 November | 15:16


Ok, gyofb, or post that at metafilter, dude. I have a car, I use it sometimes. Don't insult us.
posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 15:25
OK, "dude". I have a car too, wow. I commute 90 miles a day. You don't know me, so don't tell me what to do with my free time or my commentary. /oh snap

Unless of course by "us" you mean to include yourself in the pantheon of tiny little men who release their pressure by honking at pedestrians and other people who they "think" are "doing the wrong thing"? Then I will gladly insult you until the end of days, thank you very much.
posted by appidydafoo 03 November | 15:32
appidydafoo, Clearly you're new around here, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. However, be aware that inflammatory rhetoric such as what you used in your post is really not in keeping with the spirit of this community. Thanks.
posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 15:36
Well if thats the rules, thats the rules! I apologize if I have offended, I have been conditioned to perceive "stfu" as the veritable, dime-a-dozen sconce adorning all hallways of the intarwebs, especially when directed at completely anonymous parties of questionable ethics. I will monitor my language in the future.
posted by appidydafoo 03 November | 15:41
Eh, I'm with you, appidydafoo- I hate when cars honk at me. They never do it for any good reason; if they did ("HONK HONK" = "Your shoelace is untied!"), I might be more inclined to support them doing it.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 November | 15:43
Ok, man. I didn't actually say stfu, for what it's worth though. I'm also curious why you consider your vehicle a coffin. You're not dead right? I don't keep corpses in mine, and I bet you don't either. Is the bus I take to work a mass grave?
posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 15:44
Is the bus I take to work a mass grave?

Taking the general smell on public transit into account, answer unclear.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 November | 15:46
in new york city, if a pedesterian is on a crosswalk or an area that should be a crosswalk but isn't painted, they have the right of way no matter what the signal is (according to the traffic cop I talked to about this).

however, if it's a green light and you get hit, don't expect the driver to get a ticket.

posted by stynxno 03 November | 15:54
Taking the general smell on public transit
My bus often looks like the line outside a methadone clinic outside of peak commuting hours.
posted by pieisexactlythree 03 November | 15:59
LF, you most definitely had the right of way.
posted by Specklet 03 November | 16:00
Taking the general smell on public transit

Egad, I am never moving back to a big city.
posted by JanetLand 03 November | 16:04
You both had a green light. He was making a left-hand turn on it. You had the right of way.

(I have no legal information that supports this, but I fail to see how you could possibly be in the wrong here.)
posted by occhiblu 03 November | 16:12
Two Music Mags I love... || Hey man, is that FREEDOM ROCK?

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