Pasadena woman saves baby before killed by oncoming car

A/P ^ | 8/14/03

[Hermann the Cherusker]

So if a ped is walking across an interstate in CA, do you have to yield if you're in a vehicle?

No, you are allowed to hit him. They actually remove points from your license if you do. (/sarcasm)

Can you come up with a dumber question? If something is going to cause you to get in an accident, you must yield to it, even if they SHOULD be yielding to you, or not present at all - like people running around on freeways.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Yes, God forbid. People WALKING around in a city. Imagine the nerve of them! Who'd 've thunk it?

[FITZ]

Oh --- I always yield the right of way --- but I wonder about some of the elderly around here who I happen to know are being medicated with some strong drugs.... or the bimbo talking on her cell phone.... or the stoned driver who started his day with drugs or some booze. It's completely stupid for pedestrians not to stop and look for traffic ---- there is such a thing as being a defensive walker --- just like you do when you are a defensive driver.

[FITZ]

No, you are allowed to hit him.

I think in some cases they don't prosecute a driver too hard --- there have been cases here where pedestrians stepped into oncoming traffic and the drivers got off --- also some of those running over the border, dodging interstate traffic managed to run in front of an unsuspecting motorist who didn't get charged. There is really no way you have to stop on a dime when you're going 60 mph because someone jumped out from in front of the semi traveling alongside you into your path.

[FITZ]

And not so much "have" to stop --- sometimes you can't stop that fast --- pedestrians need to realize that stepping in front of fast moving cars isn't very safe.

[FITZ]

They encourage pedestrians and bicycles to walk and ride on the busiest most dangerous roads, ostensibly to slow drivers down.

Why don't they just build some non-human speed bumps?

[Hermann the Cherusker]

No it isn't easy to stop on a dime for a pedestrian when you are going 35. They usually go "splat".

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Those are called "mitigating circumstances". Obviously people on interstates don't expect to have to deal with pedestrians.

[PinnedAndRecessed]

I should have qualified it by saying that some CA pedestrians don't cross at crosswalks. I should have qualified it by saying that, in my experience, some of these pedestrians have stepped out between parked cars as if on a dare from their buddies.

I should have qualified it by saying that many of these pedestrians use the law as some kind of a shield to behave recklessly. But if you've driven in CA, I wouldn't have to say any of this, because you'd already know.

The point is that CA laws encourage recklessness among pedestrians. I don't care what the law says. You, as a pedestrian might have the right of way. But if you challenge a 3000 pound hurtling mass of steel head-to-head, you lose.

Yea, they've got the right of way, and can spend the rest of their lives in a wheelchair trying to prove it.

Case in point: I'm driving home at night on a CA road with lots of fast-moving traffic (is there any other kind in CA?).

There's a pedestrian who is walking dangerously close to the road as if he was the only person there. I had to swerve to keep a safe distance.

I was reading the news the next day. He was killed when he was hit by a car.

[FITZ]

Well my point was that pedestrians have to be responsible --- because their body up against a car is not going to make it. I might be the one driving 10 mph in a school zone --- but can they depend on the ill elderly man driving himself to the doctor's office --- or the guy who thinks he might be having a heart attack and is trying to get to the emergency room to be just as careful? Or that teenage girl hurrying to the mall chatting on her cell phone to pay close attention to her driving?

I know when I'm a pedestrian, I don't trust anyone driving that much.

[visualops]

Leave any church parking lot after a service and you will see the brain dead walking in front of all the cars

LOL exactly. There is a big big church (I call it the Baptist Mall) down the road. These people act like they own the neighborhood. They slow traffic to a crawl and have no regard for the rules of the road. A new traffic light was installed, with one of those "push the button" to change the light. They STILL just walk across any old place, usually without looking, and when they do look, it's with such a sneer of entitlement I really wanna yell at them.
I always liked the traffic in NYC, where everyone was brave, but understood if you didn't get out of the way it was your problem.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My observation is that CA pedestrians almost challenge me to hit them.

I almost hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk on a rainy Sunday night in Walnut Creek, California when I was there on business. It was one of those crosswalks that did not coincide with an intersection, and an out-of-towner would not expect it to be there. Visibility was terrible, the crosswalk light was a dim flickering little candle, and this idiot crosses the street and STOPS in the middle of the street when he realized I was skidding toward him.

That is probably the only car I have ever driven that had anti-lock brakes, but I am here to tell you (and so is the pedestrian) that they work.

Thank you, God.

[A CA Guy]

Yeah, I figure some of them want to be with the Lord real soon and are just trying to speed up the process.

[traumer]

[Felis_irritable]

Reminder to self...attach sarcasm tag when on web...

[Old Professer]

I got my first Ca. driver's license in 1964; pedestrians had the right-of-way then; it goes way back.

[Josh in PA]

Not here in Central PA..

There's a school in Williamsport (Penn Tech), these kids always wait for traffic to be clear before running out into it..

Out at Pitt, goodness gracious.. you can be driving 20-25 mph, and they'll step right out in front of you..

I think it's more of an urban thing.

[undeniable logic]

I love it when people walk around in a city. I don't quite appreciate it when they take strolls in the middle of a road - we spend good money on sidewalks for a reason. I'll be the first to admit that I don't always wait for the signal to walk across the street, but I only go when there is no traffic coming. You wouldn't believe how many people just cross the street without looking - I've seen people just cross diagonally across an intersection with no regards to oncoming traffic.

You can't honestly tell me that you see no problem with this!?!