1 week ago, on at a pedestrian crossing point, a car driver accelerated across a mini roundabout before swerving toward me. When I got to the pavement he passed less then 300mm away for me (he nearly hit the curb in order to get that close). Clearly he though that trying to intimidate pedestrians is acceptable driving practice (yes I was annoyed, but not intimidated I, knew that at my constant walking pace I’d make it to the footpath the other side before he could actually get to me).
Today crossing the road at a roundabout, when I was about 1/3rd away across the entry into the roundabout, a van came round the corner in the road leading to the roundabout, I was half way across before I realised he had no intention of slowing down. Again a 300mm or less near miss. He then stopped after the roundabout and swore at me. I pointed out that under rule 171 of the highway code it was my right of way - his reply: “It’s a f***ing road.” - yes exactly, so the highway code applies.
What’s wrong with these damn people?
Doesn’t anyone now read the highway code, is it no longer required for a driving test?
Do they think it’s optional or do they think it only applies to other people?
Courtesy is an old-fashioned principle now! People drive the same way as they do everything else in life these days i.e. put themselves first.
Cars to avoid are Audis and Volkswagen Golfs particularly GTi models. And of course any van not sign-wriiten.
Drivers that are courteous are Volkswagen camper drivers of any year from splitties to water cooled.
Many a time I have an Audi tailgating me while I’m on my motorbike in an urban speed limit yet when the national speed limit sign appears they are nowhere to be seen
I’m a pedestrian, cyclist, motor bike rider and a car driver…don’t do horses, but we can all behave poorly at times, however, the problem is people, if there weren’t any, everything would be OK.
You have NO right of way, only priority if road signs or markings indicate.
I’d be very careful about being Mr Highway Code Quoter… some people carry knives with them, and if they’ve had a bad day already, you might just be the trigger some coked up tattooed f-wit needs.
If you can see the roundabout as clearly as you can, just wait til it’s definitely clear or until a vehicle stops for you. That’s better than being ‘another statistic’.
Edit: what do you mean by “pedestrian crossing point”?
If it’s not a zebra/toucan etc crossing, you’d better change your ways.
Silly boy. We have an Audi and we are such sensible and courteous drivers you wouldn’t believe it. It’s metallic white with big wheels and sporty bits so we feel it’s our duty to be polite and dispel the idea that everyone driving a car like ours is a total knobhead.
I always remember the “papa bear” of our bicycle group when on an Amsterdam day trip.
“You could get into an argument with a bus. Remember it’s a lot bigger than you”
Having experienced it firsthand, I can confirm it is indeed a sporty white Audi and HH is indeed the epitome of a courteous driver. Disappointingly, I don’t recall any knobhead moments at all.
My daughter got her first job after passing her degree and the commute on A12/A14 near Ipswich was a bit shocking at times. She got her normal Xmas presents plus i paid for front and rear dashcam to be fitted. As she was finding it was not necessarily young drivers driving badly. At least there will be some data to hopefully prove she is not at fault…hope we never need to use it.
Just to reprise a comment I made, long, long ago …
“Sometimes, I feel that my life has no meaning, that everything I do is completely pointless… and then I remember the person who fits the indicators at the Audi factory”.
Speaking, it has to said, as a committed Audi driver!
I’ve just looked up rule 171. It says that vehicles must stop before entering the roundabout if there is a stop sign. But that seems different to pedestrians having a right to cross and to expect vehicles to stop. Having ended up in the ITU after being hit by a driver, I just wait till it’s definitely safe to cross, and never make assumptions that drivers will behave as one might expect, or as the law might require them to. It’s better to be safe than sorry, even though it might be annoying.
171
You MUST stop behind the line at a junction with a ‘Stop’ sign and a solid white line across the road. Wait for a safe gap in the traffic before you move off.
I think the OP has their knickers well and truly twisted.
I’m with @Xanthe in this one. If you were to hit someone in your car/van, it might seriously ruin their life, but it would seriously ruin your own life too.
Surely, as most UK roundabouts don’t have a solid white line, nor stop sign, but rather, have a broken line on the carriageway, meaning “give way”, then there is no requirement to stop, subject to traffic coming from the driver’s right.
Whilst there is a general understanding that pedestrians have right of way, once they have begun to cross the road, I would suggest that in the example we seem to be discussing, i.e. roundabouts, there is a duty of care incumbent on the pedestrian to make themselves aware of approaching traffic?
Xanthe, your description of events is unclear to me. Any chance you could clarify ?
Self preservation is a higher priority than most “rights”. There are some aggressive people around and many of them drive cars. On this score, I agree with you. And they drive all makes.
Rule 171 just doesn’t seem to fit in with the ambiguous description of either event. Have you mis-quoted ?
At junctions (specifically defined to include roundabouts), in the UK pedestrians do have right of way once they have started to cross, as defined by the Highway Code - expressly written as ‘priority’. Perhaps you should read it sometime. In this case I was crossing the junction before the van came round the corner - it wasn’t visible to me when I started to cross the road.
The pedestrian crossing point is a crossing point allocated by the local council in a traffic calmed zone, and clearly marked as such to both car drivers and pedestrians. In this case I was crossing the road before the car even entered the mini roundabout before the crossing point. When I started to cross the road the car was the other side of a mini roundabout, in order to get close to me, the car driver had to accelerate hard into, across and out of the roundabout.
In one case I couldn’t see the van, in the other I couldn’t have expected the driver to make a (tyre scraping) point of accelerating through a roundabout so he could try get to me before I finished crossing.
Where in that is the necessity to for me to “mend my ways”?
In both cases it seemed perfectly safe when I started to cross the road, in neither case could I have predicted the behaviour of the driver deliberately taking action to make it dangerous for me.
As Guinnless points out: sorry rule 170 in the current version.
