Didn't look as she crossed the street?

You haven't driven in Ann Arbor for a while, have you?

llater,

llamas

You would think that the less-protected person would be more vigilant. Even if I, as a pedestrian, have the right of way at a stoplight, I'm still going to look and make sure that the person waiting to turn sees me. It makes no difference that I was right (or not) if I'm dead. Idiots walk out in front of my suburban (against the light) regularly. I have good brakes and new-ish tires, but it's not like my tank can stop on a dime.

Also, these bike-riding folks like to complain in the local papers about how "they have to obey the same traffic laws" as auto drivers, so we should be more vigilant.
I like to point this out to them as they blow through stop signs, or stop lights, or ride across a bridge with narrow lanes and sidewalks with signs at both ends that read "WALK BICYCLES ACROSS BRIDGE".

So did you just yell at her that she was an idiot, or did you take the time to fully explain what made her an idiot?

Once, I was at a stop light. When it changed to green, I turned left and almost hit a guy who was walking across the street. Then, the car behind me almost ran him over. I realized that the sun was in my eyes, which made the pedestrian practically invisible. That wasn't the pedestrian's fault. I circled around the block, found the pedestrian and apologized. I also explained that I honestly didn't see him because of the sun in my eyes. He was probably surprised that I took the trouble to hunt him down after that near-miss.

Cyclists are the worst!

A month ago a six-point buck ran straight into my front right fender on a bend in the highway. He flipped 180 and took our my mirror and driver's side windows with his head. It damaged the hood and smashed the fender and driver's side door.

The next day I was stopped at a red light in the city and along comes Mr. No Road Rules Cyclist sliding between the rows of cars to force his way in front (no bike lane) -- but the traffic was too heavy for him to jump the intersection.

He edges past my driver's window and is about to position himself so that I have to fall in behind him when he sees the deer damage and flamboyantly exclaims: "Oh my God! That's horrid! What happened?!"

I looked him square in the eye and deadpanned: "Cyclist" as the light turned green. Funny thing -- he let me go first.

@ahw: You would think that the less-protected person would be more vigilant.

Economics tells us that the more vulnerable person will be more vigilant, and that is true -- but for most of us, the greater danger in a low-speed crash is not physical but financial injury, and juries tend to assume the car driver is always at fault for the same reason police assume the bigger person in an altercation is at fault. It's a stereotype.

The point being: Whenever the law makes assumptions that one of the parties in a conflict is more likely the "victim", that party becomes privileged and is the one who needs to be told to check his/her privilege.

In the meantime, maybe we all should install dash-cams.

Some things are so entrenched in the public mind...

Physics shows us that the pedestrian is far more able to avoid being struck than the car driver is to avoid striking him. This is easy to show: if the pedestrian is intent on suicide, the car driver can do nothing to avoid her.

But the burden is placed on the car driver because they are richer=>more capable=>more responsible.

What kills me most is the guy who insists on bicycling along a 45mph road when there is a double-wide sidewalk available. Okay, that's not true. What I mind is that (unlike some of the cyclists I saw in San Diego), he can neither keep up ANYWHERE close to traffic speed - especially on the hills - and he ignores traffic rules.

I once got stuck behind this guy when he was failing to even coast downhill quickly and then literally had to keep my car from idling forward so as to not hit him while he attempted to go up the hill.... for 10 miles! When we (finally) hit the line of cars waiting at the big intersection, you know he didn't wait his turn but finally realized he could bike in the shoulder and scoot up next to the big line of cars that were waiting. This was extra annoying as he ended up blocking me from a right-turn lane. This is how road rage starts!

God, I nearly ran over a man carrying a child across the street the other night in my neighborhood - it was dark and drizzling, he was wearing all black, and fortunately the child had a sort of light-pink coat on or I never would have seen them.

I always drive super carefully through my neighborhood because we have a lot of pedestrians, but seriously - I always wear a reflective belt across my coat when I'm out after dark.

My favorite are the yoga-pant-clad mommies who push their strollers out into the street as they prepare to jaywalk...it's like they're fishing for a car to hit little Oliver Spencer Brantley-Thurstonhaugh.

As a biker, I can add some insight to some of the behaviors, though not all.
One of the main ones is there are odd laws associated with bikes, which vary state by state, but most people who wrote them apparently never rode a bike. Next, the dangers to bikers are different than to cars. And finally like in any group there are jerks and idiots.
@ Shannon biking when there is a wide side walk. In some places bikes are required to be on the roads. But some is also the dangers to bikes are different than those to cars: hopping a curb, is an inconvenience in a car, on a bike it is a crash. A branch or something on the sidewalk can make them impassable. For example, Back when I biked, I would usually be on the sidewalks when I could, except on Wednesday because that was trash day, which made sidewalks not an option.
As to the walking a bike across a road, or coming to a complete stop at intersections, much of that revolves around, bikes are relatively slow and difficult to start from a complete stop. The best equivalent to a car would be at a stop sign, please turn off your engine and when clear, restart your car then proceed.

As a biker, I can add some insight to some of the behaviors, though not all.
One of the main ones is there are odd laws associated with bikes, which vary state by state, but most people who wrote them apparently never rode a bike. Next, the dangers to bikers are different than to cars. And finally like in any group there are jerks and idiots.
@ Shannon biking when there is a wide side walk. In some places bikes are required to be on the roads. But some is also the dangers to bikes are different than those to cars: hopping a curb, is an inconvenience in a car, on a bike it is a crash. A branch or something on the sidewalk can make them impassable. For example, Back when I biked, I would usually be on the sidewalks when I could, except on Wednesday because that was trash day, which made sidewalks not an option.
As to the walking a bike across a road, or coming to a complete stop at intersections, much of that revolves around, bikes are relatively slow and difficult to start from a complete stop. The best equivalent to a car would be at a stop sign, please turn off your engine and when clear, restart your car then proceed.

"The best equivalent to a car would be at a stop sign, please turn off your engine and when clear, restart your car then proceed."

Which makes cars superior to bicycles, because all we have to do is step on the brake.

"Share the road" screamed the bicyclists riding three abreast on a blind curve in a 30 mph zone on a mountain road with no shoulders as they struggled to make 3 mph going uphill ...

bikes are relatively slow and difficult to start from a complete stop. The best equivalent to a car would be at a stop sign, please turn off your engine and when clear, restart your car then proceed.

This is why I drive a car instead of a bicycle.

The traffic laws don't go away because you're on an inefficient vehicle.

I'm going to agree with you on obeying the traffic laws (which I always did as a cyclist), but disagree with you on efficiency. Bikes are among the most efficient vehicles known - for a road bike, the energy out vs in ratio is something like 97%. A car is lucky to hit 40%.

You meant underpowered.

Pedantry done.

I used to cycle a lot, and probably will again for a while due a disagreement with the cops about appropriate blood alcohol levels. The rules are:

- The first rule of Ride Club is obey the traffic laws.
- The second rule of Ride Club is; obey the traffic laws.
- Don't ride on the sidewalk, ever. Ride on the road, you pussy.
- Stay well clear of the kerb so you've got somewhere to go when an unexpected grate/branch/obstruction looms up on you.
- People will rarely ram you from behind. Maintain your space in your lane and move over when it's safe. If you hide in the gutter you're asking to get clipped from the side.