Well, at least the child was paying attention...

[notalwaysright]

Was driving down a fairly main road in town. It's well know for being a bit dangerous, so much so that the city decided to redo it. It's very residential, and there are long stretches with no traffic lights, so there are marked crosswalks every so often. They even have buttons which activate flashing lights, because you literally would never get across otherwise. It would look like a failed version of Frogger.

So kid (maybe 10-12) hits the button for the flashy lights. All of us in one direction stop, I think around four or five cars. Like a smart kid he looks at the other drivers and waits. One car is stopped in the other direction. I should mention there are two lanes in either direction. He starts to cross. Suddenly a car blasts by! A car honks, I believe at the idiot who didn't stop, or possibly to warn the kid. (If it was at the kid then I hate them, but I don't think so) The kid was only a step or two off the curb, and he jumps back. The person who didn't stop was in the far lane away from the kid, thankfully.

Anyway, the kid finally got across. I could see the driver of the car who didn't stop chatting with her passenger. Honestly, flashing lights, and EVERY OTHER car around stopped, and she didn't notice? She just thought we all stopped in the middle of the street for no reason? Arg. I hate driving.

[Gilhelmi]

A few years back, we had a kind old man who worked as a traffic guard for the school crossing over the main road. One day an idiot driver hit the man (who was holding up the stop sign, other cars were stopped, ect) breaking the mans leg. Needless to say, this "upset" most of the town. (pitchforks and torches were almost involved, level of upset).

After that they replaced the crosswalk with one that had lights in the road, lights on the signs, 2 crossing guards, and a police car nearby to enforce the speed limit very strictly.

[notalwaysright]

A few years back, we had a kind old man who worked as a traffic guard for the school crossing over the main road. One day an idiot driver hit the man (who was holding up the stop sign, other cars were stopped, ect) breaking the mans leg.

It's stuff like that which makes this story annoying to me.

When it was warm and I had all my windows open I saw a parent and kid go past on bikes. As they come up to the intersection (this is by my house, not a main street) they have the right of way, and a car is coming up to the stop sign. The kid wants to slow down to actually SEE if the car is going to see them and stop, and not just blow the stop sign. The parent loudly says "it's okay, we have the right of way."

The parent was right, but I still think it's just dumb to teach your kid not to check that a car sees you, especially on a bike.

[bhskittykatt]

Ugh I have this happen all the time at the crosswalk near my place. It's a lit crosswalk, one lane in each direction with a large median in the middle. There'll be four or five cars that blow through the crosswalks after the lights are going before I can even cross, then once I get to crossing the median the cars going the other way won't stop either! Half the drivers look right at me too and still don't stop.

[XCashier]

I'm just glad the kid was savvy enough to stay safe. Far too many pedestrians are off in their own little world.

[Catwoman2965]

While I have no problem stopping for people in crosswalks, I'm always afraid someone behind me won't be paying attention, and BOOM. It's scary how many inattentive yet aggressive drivers I see on a daily basis.

As for stopping when you don't have to, the street I grew up on was off a fairly busy street. We had no stop sign at the end of ours, but neither did the traffic on the cross street, and it went downhill as it came to my street.So I would ALWAYS stop and look, since if you pulled out, you ran the risk of getting t-boned. After we moved, I noticed a stop sign had been put in.

[morgana]

"it's okay, we have the right of way."

Yeah. And the car has right of WEIGHT.

[wolfie]

I could see the driver of the car who didn't stop chatting with her passenger. Honestly, flashing lights, and EVERY OTHER car around stopped, and she didn't notice? She just thought we all stopped in the middle of the street for no reason?

Look on the bright side - one day, she'll be distracted by chatting with her passenger, and won't notice the 18 wheeler stopped ahead of her. After that, she won't be endangering anybody else again.

[bhskittykatt]

While I have no problem stopping for people in crosswalks, I'm always afraid someone behind me won't be paying attention, and BOOM.

We had that happen in town a few years ago. Woman was crossing with her 2 year old in a stroller. First car stopped, second car behind them didn't and plowed right into them and pushed the first car into the crosswalk where it hit the pedestrians. The woman lived but her kid didn't make it.

[Crossbow]

Yeah. And the car has right of WEIGHT.

Universal Law of Gross Tonnage.