Where I live, there’s a law that says all vehicles have to yield for pedestrians at crosswalks. Of course this would be a thing, otherwise crosswalks would only be as good as any part of the road. Despite this, it’s a largely unfollowed rule, to severe degrees. To the extent that me and some friends have a “running gag” (generous way to put it) where some of us bet on who can wait at a crosswalk point and cross the street the quickest without going ahead before cars decided to stop. Tonight I had to wait twenty minutes for a black jeep to stop, the longest I’ve had to wait for years (and side note, I noticed that drivers of certain vehicle types/colors are more likely to stop for you), so I lost that bet tonight if we were doing it.

Some of us have also apparently led drivers to having bad vibes because some of us have used our phones to take extensive video of what’s going on, causing angry drivers (never referring to the ones that do stop for us) to yell that we’re invading privacy. And the response is always something along the line of “what are you going to do, would you really risk exposing yourself just to make a complaint that someone is making a video” before posting them to groups like the main Tumblr road conflict group (such stuff being hidden from there at the moment).

So what’s the longest you’ve ever had to wait to cross the street? And do you notice any etiquette trends like I describe in that one part?

  • @grabyourmotherskeys
    link
    141 year ago

    Canadian here. In the province I grew up in vehicles yield to a pedestrian at a crossing (marked crosswalk or intersection).

    Then I moved to Ontario for a co-op workterm. I was living with family and it was about a 30 minute walk to where I was working.

    I was on my way home after my first day and crossing the street in a residential neighborhood when I stepped out in front of a lady who had stopped at a stop sign. I walked in front of the car and she beeped her horn. I thought we might be related since my cousins lived nearby so I looked at her and she was yelling at me in her car. I said “sorry” (I have no idea why) and as I turned to keep hustling she literally bumped me with her car before I could get out of the way (she had been creeping up). I was like wtf and just got out of there.

    When I got home my cousin had a good laugh after I told him about this and he explained that pedestrians do not have the right of way (there are some towns and cities where they do, just not the one I was in).

    I then proceeded to do lots of waiting at crosswalks.

    • RandomStickman
      link
      fedilink
      121 year ago

      Wait, I’ve never heard a situation where a pedestrian crossoing at an intersection with a stop sign down have right of way. Doesn’t feel right

      • @grabyourmotherskeys
        link
        21 year ago

        Took me by surprise. I was in my mid-late-20s and had lived in a number of places in and out of Canada at that point.