Originally Posted by Sorcerer

​​​​​​This week on my evening ride home I had an unusual incident with a pedestrian.

I'm riding in a painted bike lane at around 16mph. It's California, dark, and I have bright lights (bar and helmet).

Ahead there's a cross walk with one of those recent upgrades to being lit up with flashing lights on demand by a pedestrian to indicate their crossing.

Okay. So far so good.

The pedex crossing is not an intersection .

I cannot see the pedestrian because of trees, wall, and rightward curving roadway (and this is the reason why there is this type of crossing, and I've ridden here for years and thinking about it, there have probably been multiple serious accidents here where formerly people would simply Jay walk).

Anyway... A young professionally dressed woman appears on the right, presses the button, and walks onto the road with hardly a glance up the street, and I am forced to make an emergency stop.

Now that's okay by me. I did what I am supposed to do and it worked. But I cannot help but think that the lit pedestrian crossing gave that woman more encouragement and a false sense of security .

I am positive she saw me coming and decided to exercise her right and made a calculation of the odds.

Of course I may be wrong in my assessment.

​​​​​​Is it better to live another day than be dead right?

Sometimes the things that intend to be safety enhancements provide a false sense of security.

For example, metal stairways are slippery, and we put grip tape on them to help prevent slipping, but they are still slippery.