Pedestrian Problems

timmyo

I often cycle in the city of Adelaide to get to and from university. I am becoming incrasingly more aware of pedestrians who either have a desire to commit suicide or a blind and deaf (to cyclists that is). Just today I had a crash that involved a pedestrian crossing against the pedestrian crossing lights. THe really frustrating thing was that he looked to see if anyone was coming and crossed infront of me when I had a green arrow. I think it is about time that governments or road transport authorities made pedestrians more aware of when and where they can cross the road- not jsut for cyclist but for the safety of all road users.

j.r.hawkins

You hit them, I hope?

timmyo

Na. I had an argument with the guy I nearly hit afterwards. He insisted that the red flashing man means you can cross the road!! That's Adelaideans for you!

robalert

obviously you expect people to follow road rules

peeps in syd are getting like china, you just have to ride around peds and cars break rules...

don't worry about arguing, just go around them.... surely, your bike ain't that wide!

my theory is... be nice to peds because if you aren't, they'll get in their cars and find the next cyclist to mow down on the road.. be nice, we are all human beings... there are plenty of idiot cyclists out there too

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timmyo

That is true. We do need to be nice to pedestrians because if there is one person walking instead of driving it measn one less car. It is just annoying that they check for oncoming vehicles and then walk out in front of you. I would have gone around him if I could but because he had stopped to check for cars, i assumed he had stopped altogether and therefore didn't brake any more that I had to to go around the corner. To make matters worse, it had just rained and the road was slippery as hell!

Billy_Bob

Trust nothing I say.

If you think the ped is going to make the suicide step ..... they will.
If you think the bus is going to cross in front of you ..... it will.
If you think the parked car is going to through open their door.... they have!

Just be ready. Fortunately these things only happen a fraction of the time that your riding but if it goes wrong the impact is usually major for all parties.

matagi

So you had a green arrow but he was claiming a flashing red man - if this is correct, it sounds like a traffic signal problem. The two should not occur at the same time.

Or did he start crossing on a flashing red man which then changed to a solid red man and then you got the green arrow?

26ounce

In central Perth I have found pedestrians will jaywalk in front of cyclists without a second thought. Particularly at busy pedestrian crossings when no cars are close. It is a pain as once one steps out then more will follow, a strung out group is much harder to avoid.

Unwilling to call their bluff, I often find myself on the brakes and annoyed.

cyclist2

+1, northbridge is another clasic examlpe.
allegedley the cycle cops were stoped because of a lack of funding, they could make a sqillion $$$ finning j walkers.

Meeba

+ 1 too l have the same problem in melb in front of Saint Pats,, l usually whisltle or call out to them.
And tonight there was a poor manic woman talking to an imaginary friend across the road as she walked thru the intersection at gertrude st stopping traffic, l stopped + pointed to the foot path and she went!