I'm not stopping for zebra crossings

[Mussels]

I'm a jinx! I'm not the first to stop often and I only do it if there's nothing coming up behind me, I learnt that lesson on motorbikes. So I've done this maybe 10 times in two years, two of those times the pedestrian was nearly run over, last night I was convinced she was a gonner and had to look away.
It seem that dozey drivers don't notice a bike stopped at the crossing and don't register the ped walking across in front of me, I'm going to get someone killed if I carry on.

 

[Dynamic Position]

I'm a jinx! I'm not the first to stop often and I only do it if there's nothing coming up behind me, I learnt that lesson on motorbikes. So I've done this maybe 10 times in two years, two of those times the pedestrian was nearly run over, last night I was convinced she was a gonner and had to look away.
It seem that dozey drivers don't notice a bike stopped at the crossing and don't register the ped walking across in front of me, I'm going to get someone killed if I carry on.

I've noticed lately while crossing zebra crossings as a pedestrian a lot of drivers just keep driving! I have also witnessed drivers passing no entry signs just to avoid traffic queues on the main dual carriageway! Very few keep to the designated speed limit. You have to be very careful these days.

 

[Barnowl]

The strange thing is that so many pedestrians don't expect you, as a cyclist, to stop. It's as if they feel guilty having to make you stop and slow down and would rather you just went whizzing past.

 

[flecc]

The strange thing is that so many pedestrians don't expect you, as a cyclist, to stop. It's as if they feel guilty having to make you stop and slow down and would rather you just went whizzing past.

I've noticed this too, but I think self-consciousness comes into it. A car driver is hidden away behind a reflective screen and a bit further away, but a cyclist is very close and their direct look at the pedestrian is very immediate and personal.

To a pedestrian, making a cyclist stop can therefore seem akin to deliberately obstructing someone walking along the pavement, ill-mannered, unfriendly and anti-social.

To offset this feeling, I always smile in a friendly manner to any pedestrian I stop for at crossings. They often smile back and sometimes say thanks.
.

 

[Synthman]

I've had this too. When I approach crossings, even ones with proper traffic lights it seems people don't expect me to stop for them. They always say thank you though. When I'm a pedestrian at the same crossings, many vehicles don't stop for me including bicycles. A PCSO witnessed this one night, and he told me that it might be because of my dark clothes, but I think there's no excuse as the area is well lit. A small number of times I've been unable to stop at a zebra crossing, because the person appeared at the last second, or I knew I couldn't stop safely. I've never had an accident, but a few months ago I was driving down a road near a park, and there was traffic in the other lane waiting for the lights. All of a sudden a small child ran across the road, from behind a lorry in the traffic, closely followed by his mother, who was screaming. I don't know how I didn't hit either of them, but my heart stopped. I came to a stop quite far away. If a vehicle was behind me, I'm certain that they would have been hit by it.

 

[Sevenhills]

Hi

If you are cycling up to a zebra crossing then prehaps vehicles behind cannot see if anyone is waiting?

S

 

[timidtom]

To offset this feeling, I always smile in a friendly manner to any pedestrian I stop for at crossings. They often smile back and sometimes say thanks.
.[/QUOTE]

I've tried smiling at people but I get some very strange looks and parents become very protective of their children. Mind, though in the days when I could afford to travel by train I found that smiling at other potential passengers generally meant that I had the compartment to myself ...

 

[Bikealot]

Crossings

I tend to think Zebra Crossings are a little 'low tech' and perhaps a little out of touch with modern safety requirements and the manners and attention span (further undermined by texting, phoning etc) of many drivers (and pedestrians). Even using light controlled crossings I feel I have to look carefully before stepping out as a red light is no guarantee a driver will stop.

At a Toucan crossing near my work there are regular shunt collisions as vehicles are driven into the back of the vehicles that have stopped. With many car drivers no longer using the handbrake and preferring to ride the brake, one day a vehicle will be shunted into a cyclist or pedestrian.

I am not sure of the answer.

 

[Mussels]

Hi

If you are cycling up to a zebra crossing then prehaps vehicles behind cannot see if anyone is waiting?

S

Yes but then if they saw a cyclist stopped there it's a pretty good bet that someone is crossing.

 

[Sevenhills]

Yes but then if they saw a cyclist stopped there it's a pretty good bet that someone is crossing.

If you say that people waiting dont know that you are going to stop, then neither do cars behind you, untill you stop. They shouldnt overtake if they cannot see, but the roads are full of people rushing too much.

S

 

[flecc]

I've tried smiling at people but I get some very strange looks and parents become very protective of their children. Mind, though in the days when I could afford to travel by train I found that smiling at other potential passengers generally meant that I had the compartment to myself ...

I don't know yours, but maybe it's my age. I've found responses to smiles much more acceptable to others as I've grown older.

Recently I gave up a seat to a teenage stranger with an arm in a sling to save him attempting to strap-hang on the Victoria line tube and committed the cardinal sin of opening friendly conversation with him, but that was well received.

On several short train journeys recently I've smiled at strangers as I've joined them in their seating area and every time had the smile reciprocated, on two occasions it started a conversation which included much personal information about their trip and reason for their journey.

And today I smiled at a charming little lad of around 7 years old as he struggled to reach some spread from a high supermarket shelf for his mum, getting it down for him. That earned a thank you from him and a smile of thanks from his mum as she approached.

It hadn't occurred to me, but maybe I just look trustworthy in some way.
.

 

[Alex728]

I stop at both zebra crossings and also common "crossing points" in my area and am always acknowledged and thanked. at "non-official" crossing points I am often waved across by the pedestrians (I am careful in each case not to put them into danger from impatient motorists, but the standard of driving here away from the A12/A14 and other "fast roads" is much better than SE England)

It hadn't occurred to me, but maybe I just look trustworthy in some way.

I think age makes a lot of difference.

Amongst younger groups there is a well known modus operandi of robberies where a robber acts friendly to get their target to drop their guard, by luring them to an area with less bystanders where they then strike.

also "banter" between young people is often competitive and aggressive (in city areas it can lead to actual violence).

however, young people know that an old man isn't going to rob them by force - older crooks do occasionally try "the sob story to get cash" but clearly its not something you are going to be doing being relatively well off - and older people and family groups they often want to return to the "good old days" where complete strangers struck up conversations on trains, my mum talks about stuff like this - even some of the (young-ish) people on my local Transition Towns group joined due to a random conversation on a train!

 

[Barnowl]

timidtom -

 

[Pedalo]

Yes but then if they saw a cyclist stopped there it's a pretty good bet that someone is crossing.

I think it's possibly the case that the driver is distracted by overtaking the cyclist, so they just don't notice the pedestrian crossing the road.

I've seen this on a couple of occasions too. Wonder if anyone's researched the phenomenon. Perhaps there's a case for modifying the highway code to state that indeed, cyclists shouldn't stop at zebra crossings.

 

[Barnowl]

It wouldn't make much difference hardly anyone reads it after they've past their driving test. The highway code is mostly employed as a tactical weapon to justify a good rant in the mistaken belief it is the law.