The dim pedestrians

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Sun 4 Feb 2007 13:06
The dim pedestrians - Clanger
I'd just come back from the tip with the trailer on and there was a Scenic parked nearly opposite my gate, preventing me from doing my normal nifty reverse into the yard.There was a group of 2 adults and an infant approaching from the front and I would block the single-track road that runs past our house when I stopped. So I pulled in hard to the left leaving the nearside rear corner of the car just inside the gate with the left indicator on, unhitched the trailer and wheeled it across the yard, jumped back in the car and selected reverse. Before I'd got the handbrake off the reverse sensors bleeped hysterically. Where were the pedestrians? Instead of leaving my car and trailer to their right and walking undisturbed along the kerbed path past the Scenic, they had evidently just filed through the 18" gap between the car and gatepost, practically kissing the flashing indicator, walked into the yard and a slight thud meant they were tripping over the towbar. I couldn't see them because there were bent down behind the tailgate presumably either helping the infant out of the way or starting some bizarre and risky game of hide-and-seek. There was some grumbling and finger-pointing from the female adult as they left the yard and I finally got the car put away. Some people shouldn't be let out unsupervised.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 13:25
The dim pedestrians - islandman
Ha Ha lol! The real world eh? Hit one and it'll be your fault all right!
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 14:07
The dim pedestrians - deepwith
Ahh, I've met them. They are the ones who walk behind you when you are three feet out reversing out of a parking space in a car park, or step into a space on the highway which you are happily reversing into. Wonder how many directions they think you can see while doing a manouvre? Perhaps it is a version of skittles they are playing?
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 14:19
The dim pedestrians - LeePower
We constantly get exactly the same at work, you can be reversing 9 ton of forklift out the repair bay & some idiot will walk right close behind it, if they are in one of the blind spots you have no chance of spotting them.

We had one do it thursday & he got a right mouthful of abuse from us.
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 14:36
The dim pedestrians - Lud
It is your right to be as thick as two short planks.

If anything nasty happens to you because of it, it is your right to scream and shout and try to blame someone else.

No one has the right to name or describe your condition. That would be judgemental. After all you can't help it. And it's your right, isn't it?
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 17:39
The dim pedestrians - rover 75
Pedestrians , horse riders and cyclists have a right to use the roads , motor vehicles are licenced to do so . Why did you not wait for the pedestrians to pass before turning into your drive ?
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 17:51
The dim pedestrians - Clanger
Pedestrians , horse riders and cyclists have a right to use
the roads , motor vehicles are licenced to do so .


No argument with that.
Why did you not wait for the pedestrians to pass before
turning into your drive ?


Because they were some distance away and the unattended Scenic and my car were blocking the road at the point I made a decision to unhitch. I question why the pedestrians chose not to use a perfectly safe kerbed verge to their left but squeezed behind my car to their right, a car with its engine (illegally, I know) still running, into my yard.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 18:31
The dim pedestrians - rover 75
I'm not having a go at you really , but I make the point that its our reaponsibility to look out for other vulnerable road users .
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 18:47
The dim pedestrians - Zippy123
You might say that cyclists, pedestrians etc etc have more right to use the road becuase they are more vulnerable, but they don't help themselves do they.

I drive down the A21 regularly and there are a number of poorly lit villages on the bottom strectch. At night, usually in poor weather, you get pedestrians crossing the road and they appear to be in camouflage! Sometimes I swear that I have missed them by chance!

What is more there is usually a very good pedestrian crossing within a few hundred feet which they could have used.
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Sun 4 Feb 2007 19:25
The dim pedestrians - nortones2
Maybe we should bear in mind the paradox that you are only able to drive if you are fit, within the licencing laws. Those too young or old, or with mobility or other medical problems might find the trivial few hundred feet (to the motorist), a significant issue. In our small town of 10,000, there is but one pedestrian crossing. It simply cannot be used unless you are on the road it serves. Its not as if motorised traffic is noted for its brilliant intellect:)
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Mon 5 Feb 2007 00:29
The dim pedestrians - Lud
I
make the point that its our reaponsibility to look out for
other vulnerable road users .


Goes without saying really. But must we save every half-wit from his suicidal course? I mean, obviously we don't want to have to hose nasty stuff off our tyres. But how vigilant are we supposed to be?
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Mon 5 Feb 2007 00:39
The dim pedestrians - milkyjoe
i had the misfortune to"bag" a cyclist as he attempted to cycle across a pelican crossing that was on green in the dark with no lights on (him not me)the worse thing was i had just had my bonnet resprayed and no amount of t cut was going to take the soddin dents out
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