Almost ran over some dude today.

[shp4man]

Sitting at a red light, trying to make a legal right turn. Some brainless fuck walks right in front of the truck against a red "walk" light. My concentration was on oncoming traffic. I literally missed the guy by about an inch and a half.
It would have been a Darwin style survival of the fittest thing.
Thank God I didn't hit the guy.

[12,000 RPM]

He's an idiot but you gotta pay more attention......

[shp4man]

It would have been my fault, probably. There are a few Catch 22 style situations in city driving where you can get totally screwed by somebody else's actions. This is one of them.

Let's be careful out there! Dumbasses are everywhere! 

[FoMoJo]

Sitting at a red light, trying to make a legal right turn. Some brainless fuck walks right in front of the truck against a red "walk" light. My concentration was on oncoming traffic. I literally missed the guy by about an inch and a half.
It would have been a Darwin style survival of the fittest thing.
Thank God I didn't hit the guy.

I did something very similar on my way to taking by driver's license test, way back when.  I was looking to the left to watch for a break in traffic and some old woman walked right in front of me. I had started to accelerate as I turned my head forward and there she was, right in front of the car. Had I run her down, I would likely have never driven again. 

[giant_mtb]

Let's be careful out there! Dumbasses are everywhere! 

Apparently.

[FoMoJo]

Apparently.

We all make mistakes, don't we .

[giant_mtb]

We all make mistakes, don't we .

Yeah, of course.  But he's still calling someone a "brainless fuck" because he himself wasn't paying enough attention to said brainless fuck.  Accidents similar this happen often between vehicles...car in front of you is turning right.  You're focusing left on the oncoming traffic.  You see (or think you see) the car in front of you go.  Turns out they didn't...you're still looking left and move forward, bam.  It happens.  You have to assume everyone else on the road is crazy or stupid, pedestrian or not.

[shp4man]

Yeah, of course.  But he's still calling someone a "brainless fuck" because he himself wasn't paying enough attention to said brainless fuck.  Accidents similar this happen often between vehicles...car in front of you is turning right.  You're focusing left on the oncoming traffic.  You see (or think you see) the car in front of you go.  Turns out they didn't...you're still looking left and move forward, bam.  It happens.  You have to assume everyone else on the road is crazy or stupid, pedestrian or not.

Would you walk out in front of a car turning right against the walk light without making eye contact with the driver? Darwin? WTF?

[giant_mtb]

Would you walk out in front of a car turning right against the walk light without making eye contact with the driver? Darwin? WTF?

No, of course not.  But that doesn't make him a brainless fuck.  Clearly you weren't paying enough attention to him and he wasn't paying enough to his situation either.

If I see a pedestrian in that situation or there's a car in front of me, I always look once more before I actually execute my turn. I've seen too many videos of this exact situation gone wrong to not. 

Have a beer.  Chill.

[Byteme]

Would you walk out in front of a car turning right against the walk light without making eye contact with the driver? Darwin? WTF?

He did.

Maybe he was looking for Pokémon.

Not that it matters but was your signal on.  Maybe he assumed you were going straight.  Not making excuses for the guy but both parties have responsibilities to keep everyone alive. 

[CaminoRacer]

Yesterday some numb nuts cut me off in the middle of an intersection. I was in the left lane going straight and they were in the right, but apparently they thought they were in the left lane and headed over towards me once the light turned green. I slowed down and stared at them in disbelief. Should have laid on the horn but I was too shocked at their stupidity.

[FoMoJo]

Yeah, of course.  But he's still calling someone a "brainless fuck" because he himself wasn't paying enough attention to said brainless fuck.  Accidents similar this happen often between vehicles...car in front of you is turning right.  You're focusing left on the oncoming traffic.  You see (or think you see) the car in front of you go.  Turns out they didn't...you're still looking left and move forward, bam.  It happens.  You have to assume everyone else on the road is crazy or stupid, pedestrian or not.

This happened to me as well. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I was the one who got rammed in to.

[12,000 RPM]

We all make mistakes, don't we .

Of course. The difference is, some people take responsibility for their mistakes. Others, like shippy blame everyone else. Indeed shippy, it would have sucked for you if you had run over and possibly killed somebody. That's a GOOD thing. HOPEFULLY next time you will pay more attention.

[shp4man]

Lol. This same shit will happen to you someday, guaranteed. There are clueless people everywhere. Watch out for them.

[giant_mtb]

Lol. This same shit will happen to you someday, guaranteed. There are clueless people everywhere. Watch out for them.

Yeah, and then we'll make a thread about what a stupid brainless fuck the guy was and then one post later be like yeahhh it probably would've been my fault.

[cawimmer430]

If you had run him over you'd be doing the world a favor. Just saying. 

[Morris Minor]

I had a bumper thumper years ago doing this. Turning right, looking left for traffic to pass, moved off when it was clear, did not see the car ahead of me that had stopped/hesitated - because I was still looking left. My fault, cracked his bumper & ended up getting a ticket, glad it was not a pedestrian.

Since that I automatically look ahead before moving off - once bitten twice shy.

[FoMoJo]

I had a bumper thumper years ago doing this. Turning right, looking left for traffic to pass, moved off when it was clear, did not see the car ahead of me that had stopped/hesitated - because I was still looking left. My fault, cracked his bumper & ended up getting a ticket, glad it was not a pedestrian.

Since that I automatically look ahead before moving off - once bitten twice shy.

I will admit to one of those as well; no damage, thanks to real bumpers back then, but a wake-up call.

[Byteme]

If you had run him over you'd be doing the world a favor. Just saying. 

I'm really surprised you'd post that, even in jest.   

[12,000 RPM]

Lol. This same shit will happen to you someday, guaranteed. There are clueless people everywhere. Watch out for them.

Right, because running over your car is something that happens to you and not the person you ran over 

[12,000 RPM]

I'm really surprised you'd post that, even in jest.   

Germans have a different sense of humor.

[AutobahnSHO]

what's not funny in Germany is barely clipping an old man on his bicycle. It was my first time "downtown" (Mannheim), and some impatient driver was turning right and just barely barely touched the back wheel of an older man on his bicycle.

Man on bike stopped, looked back, dismounted, looked at bike,
Dude in car was out of the car absolutely ready to die apologizing. It was a refreshing sight, the attitude of the driver.

[VTEC_Inside]

Twice in the not so distant past I've been at a red light waiting, and note pedestrians on the curb.

In both cases the pedestrians started to cross as soon as their light turned red, yeah, red, not green. 1st time it was two people on foot, I tapped the horn and pointed to the light, they stopped... 2nd time was a girl on a bike, tapped the horn but she was already in front of me (4 lanes wide, me 3rd lane over from her point of view) at that point and continued on.

[Rupert]

Bikes aren't pedestrians. She may or may not have had good reasons to cross then, sounds like not though.

[VTEC_Inside]

Bikes aren't pedestrians. She may or may not have had good reasons to cross then, sounds like not though.

Nope pure twilight zone shit. It was if red meant go in both cases, I was just stunned at what I was seeing.

[FoMoJo]

Twice in the not so distant past I've been at a red light waiting, and note pedestrians on the curb.

In both cases the pedestrians started to cross as soon as their light turned red, yeah, red, not green. 1st time it was two people on foot, I tapped the horn and pointed to the light, they stopped... 2nd time was a girl on a bike, tapped the horn but she was already in front of me (4 lanes wide, me 3rd lane over from her point of view) at that point and continued on.

Colour blind?

[MX793]

A recurring issue I've encountered over the past couple of months is cyclists riding against traffic.  My development exits onto a 4-lane, divided turnpike.  To make a left, you cross over two lanes, stop on a paved crossover in the median, then turn left.  When crossing, or even turning right, I never look to my right since traffic is coming from the left.  Was caught off guard by some kid riding on the shoulder against traffic a few weeks back.  Have had similar issues on other roads, mostly 4-lane (w/ center turn lane) major thoroughfares.

[Rupert]

That is very stupid on the cyclist's part.

[AutobahnSHO]

That is very stupid on the cyclist's part.

+1

I scared some idiot adult cyclist (fixie?) in DC who was riding against traffic. I was turning left had green but had to wait, finally traffic parted enough to go, I gunned it and then had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. I was in an old Voyager which had terrible brake bias and no ABS, I was always locking the rears. Luckily the tires screeched really awesomely and idiot biker visibly flinched.

----------------- -------------------------- --------------------------------

I almost hit a soldier this morning. Even the lame lighter "digital" camo is meant to not reflect light, I turned left and this dummy was running in the center turn lane headed towards my lane, barely saw him and was able to slow down. Lucky for him it's a 25mph road, if it was faster I would have tagged him.

[Rupert]

There were a couple of full-camo bow hunters walking along the highway on my commute home today. Almost didn't see them.