If pedestrians don't take what's theirs (in a safe manner), there are just far too many drivers who will ignore them. Fixing that will take decades, best case, but I want to walk around my neighbourhood as a first-class citizen now. So I do.
Disclaimer: I am tall, visible, only do this in good visibility, and live in Canada where driver behaviour is a bit better. If the situation is borderline, I never tempt fate, rather I throw my hands up in the air and make it obvious that yes, I hereby assert that this driver is being an asshole.
Your edgy angst is better spent engaging with local levels of government.
Road rage due to damage to their pavement princesses is deadly when your in a cage of steel.
If a driver can be goaded into murder, perhaps they shouldn't have the tools to commit that murder so easily.
As a general rule I go out of my way to not piss off drivers, not because I think they're in the right, but because they can murder me with impunity and they know it.
A rock thrown at a vehicle moving at speed can be (and has been) charged as attempted first degree murder. There are not really any victims in this scenario.
https://jalopnik.com/blood-brothers-kill-woman-after-throwin...
The driver of the vehicle (vehicles cause a dozen 9/11s worth of deaths a year) is armed. Only person that can stop a bad guy with a vehicle is a good guy with a rock.
Yep definitely a real plan that solves real problems. /s
[edit] Or was the plan to prevent the collision in the first place? As I see the driver coming for me, murder in their eyes, I will smoothly draw my weapon, shoot the driver through the windshield, leap into the air and sail smoothly over my assailant's steel battering ram, executing a perfect three-point superhero landing as my fellow pedestrians cheer.
Was that the idea instead?
But I do prefer your scenario instead.
(Bill Burr clip, very adult language)
Sometimes I'll do a big exaggerated step showing drivers that I do not intended to stop, unless they choose to kill me. I won't actually step into a lane when a driver might not have seen me so I feel safe doing it, but it breaks drivers expectations that they own the road.
All this to say: I don’t mind waiting for traffic to pass and I find your aggressive style to be distasteful, dangerous and annoying. That said, I will still stop for you 10 feet away and smile as I think of terrible words in my head.
Giving up Right of Way creates more confusion (think about the “go” / “no you go” game of a car not moving when it’s their turn at a 4-way stop).
no confusion there.
If you don’t want cars to stop for you the solution is easy, stay far enough back from the intersection so it’s clear you’re not trying to cross. Otherwise I will stop for you — it’s the law.
I find it to be boorish.
Boston, on the other hand - those motherfuckers speed up when they see you crossing.
We need laws (and enforcement) that make it so that taking risks with pedestrian safety can be ticketed (or other consequences).
I've had experiences recently (in TX) of people forcing my action to avoid being hit. Had someone essentially play "chicken" with me where they were actively accelerating through a crosswalk timing it just so that we do not intersect. (but they were increasing velocity in such a way that if my trajectory were to change, such as tripping, stooping to pick up something I dropped etc, I'd be hit hard).
And many will say "Call the police" but the fact is in a large number of metros (including Austin and others in Texas), the police do not respond to much if anything. A lack of enforcement and consequences (on behalf of the perpetrator) is equivalent to a lack of laws entirely.
> Assume they don't see you.
So what about kids? They're usually not the best at that game. Are they not allowed to become autonomous beings because there are killer tanks on the move?
It's disturbing.
Major dense metros with viable transit are more immune to this, middle schoolers aren't unheard of but ridesharing probably has raised the threat level.
Even if you're in a car and have right of way, if another driver doesn't see you and collides into your car, it's going to ruin your day. The consequences aren't as bleak as if a vehicle collides into your body, but it's still pretty negative, and it's in your best interest to avoid a collision regardless of who would be determined to be at fault.
"If you can't see my eyes, i can't see you".
These kinds of handy one-liners and behaviour patterns are a big part of the problem. I shouldn't have to make eye contact with you, relying on you being semi-awake and not having illegal levels of windshield tint. Screw that, pay attention.
EDIT: lol - Downvotes for calling out reality always cracks me up. IMO, you're free to value being right over remaining alive. But life doesn't give two fucks about being right.