Why are you allowed in public? Really.

[bammertheblue]

This story didn't happen to me, but rather to my mom and brother. Background: my younger brother is currently in an inpatient rehab facility dealing with chemical dependency issues. (He's doing well and I'm amazingly proud of him.) This is relevant later.

Last weekend, my mother drove the 3 hours from HomeTown to RehabCity to visit Brother. She checked him out on a day pass, and they went out and about in RehabCity, getting lunch, seeing a movie, doing some shopping. On the way back to the facility, my mom was preparing to make a right turn on a red light. She inched into the crosswalk so she could see when it was safe to make the turn. A small group of guys in their 20s happened to be near Mom's car, using the crosswalk, and got upset that she was infringing upon their crosswalk space. They started yelling about how they had the right-of-way (true, but she was fully aware that they were there and was waiting till they passed to make her turn.) Then, one of them takes his half-full can of beer and throws it through the lowered rear passenger side window, into the car. Beer got all over the interior, all over my brother's bag, and all over my brother.

Let me repeat that: Some asshole threw an open beer into a car, onto a recovering alcoholic on a day pass from rehab.

Of course, when he got back to the facility, my mother had to explain to the staff why Brother and his stuff smelled like beer...

I really, really hate people sometimes.

[bean]

Most chemical dependency places (I should know, I've been to a few of them now) have the ability to do an on-the-spot sobriety test.

The last one I went to would make me blow into a breathalyzer every time I came back from a day pass.

I've gotten pissed at people stopping in the middle of a crosswalk before - including walking across someone's hood when they completely blocked it, and punching someone's BMW hard enough to leave a dent when they almost hit me - but if they're barely in the crosswalk, no big deal, I might give them a dirty look at the most.

Yes, I have anger management issues.

I hope your brother can stay sober, addiction is a bitch. Best of luck to him.

[bammertheblue]

Thanks, Bean. I forgot to mention that when he got back to the facility, my mom told the staff what happened, and Brother told them he'd take a test right then and there if they wanted him to. They didn't make him take one as far as I know, though. They probably thought the story was too weird to be made up.

And yeah, my mom shouldn't have been in the crosswalk, but really. She wasn't even MOVING when they were crossing.

[LillFilly]

I thought it was illegal in most places to have an open alcohol container in public.

I always face that dilema when driving. I see someone heading towards the cross-walk, but are still maybe 5-feet away, and I know at 5-8MPH I can be across before they get there. I usually keep going, and every so often someone will scream at me. But if someone is right at the crosswalk or a foot from it I stop. Then there are those people who come-up to the crosswalk, so I stop; but then they stand there, fiddle with their bags, check their cell phones, so I start again.... And they look-up and yell at me. Sigh... I can't win.

Hope that incident hardened your brother's resolve by showing how dumb those guys were when drinking. Best of luck to him!

[Arm]

I thought it was illegal in most places to have an open alcohol container in public.

It's also illegal to assault folks with your drink can... I don't think those rubes were especially worried about the finer points of law there

Best of luck to your bro, bammer. He's doin' a good thing.

I hate pedestrians that are near crosswalks when I'm driving. I always wind up with pedestrians that slowwwwwly gravitate towards the walk, dither, and then have this 'ah HA!' moment that sends them hurtling out into traffic without looking. I'm sorry; I and the other cars behind me, doing 35mph here, we can't just wait forever for you to decide whether or not crossing the street is something you want to do *now* or after you've grown your hair out another few feet...

I mean... I'll STOP if they give me the time to do so, but 'listen to the ABS shudder and the tires screech and pray he misses me' isn't *quite* enough distance.

[mikoyan29]

Crosswalks? What are these crosswalk things you people mention?

I live in one college town and work in another. When I go to the college portion of either the crosswalks are rarely used. People just cross wherever, whenever and don't normally look.

[Jetfire]

As a pedestrian, I'm a bit torn when it comes to crosswalks. I know I have the right of way, but I generally hate making other cars stop for me to cross.

So if I'm approaching a crosswalk and notice one or two cars about to go through it, I'll either slow down enough to make sure they have time to make it through without having to stop for me, or I'll actually stop and put my back to traffic and find some sign or storefront extra fascinating (or look like I'm just turning the corner and not crossing) so they don't think they have to stop for me. Once they're through and there's a break in traffic, I'll cross over. If I stop and catch the driver's eye, then we often get into a polite-off, waiting for the other to go first.

On the other hand, if it's a long stream of cars approaching the crosswalk, I'll bolt across at the first car to stop for me. I may be polite, but I'm not THAT polite.

(Similarly, if a car is edging through the crosswalk or even coming out of or into a driveway trying to make a turn, I'll often wait for them, turning away if needed, or I'll walk behind them so I don't block an opportunity if they get one).

On the other hand, the guys in the OP were just plain idiots, no two ways about it.

[LillFilly]

Ah, and this drives me nuts too! Someone who's been standing at the edge of the crosswalk for several seconds, undecided, so I keep going. THEN! THEN! They start walking across and nearly walk into the side of my truck, and seem so startled that I'm there. Yeeaaahhh.

[Jetfire]

Politeness wars are annoying and frustrating for both sides of the equation. Hence why I turn my back and often take a step or two away from the edge to make sure the other party knows they can go, or at least so we don't escalate the politeness war into hand signals.

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

Too dangerous here to be careless with the crosswalks. Most cars don't give a damn. Also, most crosswalks are attached to a light, so there is an obvious right of way. But when there isn't, I prefer to wait until the traffic closest to me is far enough away that they won't even reach me until I'm out of harms way, and if necessary camp in the middle of the walk until I can finish getting across.

[ditchdj]

It's also illegal to assault folks with your drink can... I don't think those rubes were especially worried about the finer points of law there

Flashback to the well-known "Mc Missile Case".....

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art..._receives.html

[bammertheblue]

Crosswalk stupidity is one of the reasons I HATE driving in downtown DC and avoid it whenever possible. Between the wandering tourist families, huge groups of high school kids who seem incapable of walking across a street without causing a ruckus, and the Very Important People who run across the street against the light because they are in a Very Important Hurry, it's enough to make me never want to drive again. And that's not to mention the people who cross in the middle of the street, coming out from between parked cars and nearly giving me a heart attack. But nobody's ever thrown a beer into my car here, so I guess that's something.

(Oh, and walking around with an open container of alcohol is illegal. And throwing it at someone's car is definitely illegal. If a cop had been around, that idiot would probably have been arrested.)

And thanks for the well-wishes for my brother.

[Andara Bledin]

Speaking of what is and isn't legal and polite-offs, I know that in California, if you let your car creep into a crosswalk while people are in it, you can get ticketed. That's part of the reason some drivers are so paranoid about people crossing. They even had some big "crackdown" on it somewhere local to me earlier this year.

I'm with you guys that turn away when you want to let the cars go by. Not only do you avoid the whole polite-off situation, but in some places, you could be saving a driver from getting a ticket.

^-.-^

[Imogene]

I was driving home from the mall recently, through a tight street, and I notice these two guys go walking (not running, walking) across the street just barely ahead of the line of cars hurtling toward them, and I had someone riding just shy of my tail, so I couldn't exactly slow down to give them time to cross. They weren't even looking in our direction, they were watching the opposing traffic, even though there's a median between the two lanes of traffic.

[WhiteRose]

if someone doesn't have time to slow down, i don't get all catbuttfaced about it, because i've been there...but it's nice of people to let me cross...i always nod and smile...aparently i have a nice smile so it's a nice reward for a nice action...of course, being from a relatively small town in VT, we were taught respect...