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Wherein Magpie discovers stupidity

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  • Wherein Magpie discovers stupidity

    Unfortunately a large part of it was my own.

    Walking home from church last night I was crossing in a marked crosswalk, going along the more major road. To the best of my knowledge, both of these tend to suggest that the turning car does not, in any way, have right of way. The fact that I entered the crosswalk before the car made it to the end of the turn lane would also support this. I was watching it, it was slowing down as it entered the turn lane, it looked like it was going to stop.

    The roads were both two-lane (with a turn lane on the road from which the car was turning). When the driver didn't stop for me I figure that he was going to pull the trick where they turn in front of you, and if they're really fast or you're really slow you don't actually have to stop. Nope, he was trying to turn into his lane. I (obviously) yelled out at this point, and here's where my stupidity came in. I stood still. I have reason for this - at this point I'm not taking my eyes off the car, so I can't run back to the near curb. Nor do I want to run TOWARDS the car to get to the far curb. I also try to stand still so that if they're going to need to veer to avoid me they can.

    My last point was somewhat borne out - when the car didn't stop as suddenly as I expected it to (i.e. as fast as possible), I started to run, and the car ended up veering around more after I started moving than before.

    Now, given that the car managed to stop a couple of metres away from me, and I had been keeping an eye on the speed, I probably wasn't in much danger, given that I had indeed started to run. What is the best course of action in a case like that. I explained why I don't want to run, but after an incident like that I don't really want to stand... (In this particular case I probably could have run down the street, or at a diagonal down the street and towards the far curb, but that only works when there's no traffic).

  • #2
    I was crossing at a lighted intersection yesterday, and some douche in an SUV decided to gun it and almost ran over my dog! What pissed me off was that he clearly SAW me...he had slowly turned and had even stopped in front of the crosswalk, but apparently decided he could gun it right before I was about to step in front of him. I had to yank the leash back so my dog wouldn't get hit!
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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    • #3
      Heh, I kind of caused a wreck crossing the street one time. I was in the cross-walk, with the walk signal. I was almost across and there was a truck that was turning right that actually stopped to wait for me to finish crossing. However, the guy behind them didn't.

      Lucky me, I was looking right at both of them when it happened since I was keeping an eye on the truck turning right. And me being the good citizen that I am, stayed until the cops showed up (2 hours later) to give my statement as a witness.
      It's floating wicker propelled by fire!

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      • #4
        Didn't you know traffic laws don't apply to SUV drivers...that's why I'm getting one the next time I buy a car.

        I think he was trying to kill your dog.

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