Originally Posted by
KraneXL
He's making an irrational comment. People (pedestrians) do stupid things all the time. Here's a scenario that shows this fact. A pedestrian is crossing the street as I'm approaching. If you track their movement forward they would be well out of the way by the time I arrive at their intersect point.
Instead of continuing forward, they (apparently panic like a deer caught in the headlights) and either start shifting back and forth, move backwards, or just stop. I now have to come to a complete stop and wait for their thinking to keep from having a collision.
This is the type of stuff that I was getting at. In my city j-walking is legal, and I think that's a good thing, but I believe it is not legal to obstruct traffic or block it in any way to cross. If there is a clear way, cross by all means. Barring that, pedestrians should wait for the traffic to clear or walk to the next light. This is what I do when I'm walking; I would never run or walk out in front of a car in a way that would make them slow down.
So why do
they do it? I imagine they are impatient and just don't want to wait their turn, so they figure they'll step onto the road a little, more and more, until a car stops for them so they can cross.
This, IMO, is quite selfish. People in vehicles have to respect the laws; they have to stop for lights (which can make them wait for a minute or two sometimes) so people can cross—they don't just run red lights when they're impatient.
The issue with the pedestrians and bikes is that many pedestrians don't seem to respect cyclists as much as other vehicles. Yes, pedestrians will likely stop for you if they are in the middle of the road and see you coming while they are crossing, but how are we to trust they will actually stop? Why not just wait for the street to be clear to cross?
It's just logic: don't step in front a moving vehicle—bicycle or not!