In France if there is a collision between a car and a pedestrian the car is always at fault unless it can be proved the pedestrian was committing suicide.
If one deliberately jumps out on you it's obviously the pedestrians fault if you hit them. However if someone is already crossing the road you slow down and let them cross, it takes a few seconds out of a journey and you only need to break gently or just back off the accelerator.
Australia seems a different attitude. Crossing the road, they'll point the car straight at you and accelerate for being on the road, even if there's a queue of traffic a few meters ahead they are not going to get through.