What in the heck were you thinking!?!? It was a 70km zone stretch of road AT NIGHT and you seemed to be wearing all black as well. Drivers have enough things to worry about on the roads without little idiots darting across. You weren’t just risking your stupid life, you were risking mine. IF I hit you, you would have been dead, and I would have to pay for your stupidity. Was it too much to ask of you to walk the 7 or 8 metres to the LIGHTED crosswalk? I guess so. Instead, you decided to save 1 minute off your walk and come 1 metre to being killed. You could have at least waited until I was past you! Did you not notice the car that just passed, driving in the opposite direction, blinding me with those douche-bag-bright headlights? MEANING I’d have like 1 or 2 seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness again. Why can’t cars here have the right of way over idiot pedestrians like they do in London!? It would certainly make walkers take a second to look before walking out wherever they want. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think ALL pedestrians are as bad as this idiot. I do my part to keep them safe, such as waiting until they’re off the entire crosswalk before driving again and slow down near intersections, which I did do in this case, and if I didn’t, I’m pretty sure I would have hit this person.
So, screw you! Next time you want to risk your life, leave other people out of it.
—Magic night-vision driving machine
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2009.
I used to slow down for jaywalkers but don’t anymore. I put my hand on my horn and my foot on the gas, like they do in NYC. It scares the shit out of them.
Must have been the same idiot crossing Maple St in Dartmouth on a bike yesterday afternoon. I guess people on bikes are exempt from “STOP” signs. The asshole blew right through it. Had I been a few feet closer, I would have been on the front page and he would have been in the obits. I’ll take the front page.
and if he wasn’t in a crosswalk, you wouldn’t have been charged or ticketed… now your dented car on the other hand.. I don’t think you would be able to get anything out of him for that… nor would he mind since he be (dirt) napping.
Marked or not, there is a crosswalk at every corner! You said you were coming up to an intersection, so you must have been near a corner.
I agree 100% with the no pedestrian right of way, its idiotic… Im sure people will start ranting but it cuts down on vehicle vs pedestrian accidents, which last time I checked does not go well for the pedestrians…
Some places in the city could do with pedestrian bridges (or tunnels).
Barring that…as the OP suggests, try the places with the white stripes!
“Marked or not, there is a crosswalk at every corner!”
That is the most rediculous thing I’ve ever heard…you should try telling drivers from other places that one! You’d be a real hit, in a comedy club! LOL no pun intended
“
Unmarked Crosswalks
There is a crosswalk at every intersection, whether marked by lines or unmarked. Drivers must always yield the right of way to pedestrians lawfuly in crosswalks.
Every pedestrian crossing at a roadway at any point other than at a crosswalk shall yield the right of way to vehicles on the roadway. “
http://www.halifax.ca/traffic/TypesofCross…
Tell that to the HRM.
If your not in a crosswalk then I don’t stop slow down just Lay on my horn just like huskie alum said. Unmarked crosswalks is putting your life in to someones hands you don’t trust.
I hope that these people make eye contact with the drivers instead of just thinking you have the right away to jump out on the road. Cause unfortunatly I don’t stop that fast.
if the jaywalker wasnt in a crosswalk and had caused the accident, as long as the driver made an attempt to avoid collision, they are not culpable. if the jaywalker had directly contributed to his own death/someone else’s then the onus is on them not the driver. if he had have gone TO the crosswalk then that would have been a different story for the driver, although just as harrowing for both parties.
And another thing….bikes are NOT pedestrians they’re VEHICLES. All the crossstreets on Maple St have stop signs. So the biker is at fault even if he was in a crosswalk….marked or unmarked.
To quote what you quoted Sarey,
“Every pedestrian crossing at a roadway at any point other than at a crosswalk shall yield the right of way to vehicles on the roadway. “
The OP did say that there was a crosswalk like 7-8 metres away and that the pedestrian was ‘crossing at a roadway at any point other than at a crosswalk”…so…what’s your point? The pedestrian should have yield!
and another thing you said,
“Marked or not, there is a crosswalk at every corner! You said you were coming up to an intersection, so you must have been near a corner.”
Yes, they said they were ‘coming up to’ an intersection, not that they were IN an intersection. They did say they slowed down because they were approaching an intersection. That doesn’t give a pedestrian the right to run right across wherever they want on the street, especially when there was a marked intersection near.
*marked crosswalk near…I can’t type today.
As long as you are not speeding/txting or generally driving without due care, if someone darts infront of you and you hit them, you will not have to pay squat.
Other than, of course, the hassle, time and expense of the repairs to the front of your car.
If it were me, I would actively pursue the insurance of the manic pedas-trian, his family home-owner’s for instance, may pay. If the damage is major, and the jay-walker is killed, there may be a good chance to collect on his death benefits…even many students have those these days (to cover their loans).
There was a famous case recently where an off-leash dog darted out and was hit and of course killed by a sports car…the owner was able to successfully sue and recover….same should apply to off-leash teenagers.
I propose that there should be an insurance pool paid into by Halifax residents that DO NOT own a vehicle., and are therefore “free riders” of the streets, traffic lights, sidewalks etc etc…
Well, frankly, melectric, since neither of us were there, we cannot comment on where the pedestrian was at the time of crossing. So I do apologize for making assumptions. But:
“The OP did say that there was a crosswalk like 7-8 metres away and that the pedestrian was ‘crossing at a roadway at any point other than at a crosswalk”…so…what’s your point? The pedestrian should have yield!”
IF the pedestrian was at the intersection, it would be considered a crosswalk according to Nova Scotia’s Motor Vehicle Act, regardless of where any other crosswalks were located. And besides, I think that law is ridiculous anyway; I just think it’s sort of funny because no one actually realizes the law exists.
Hey, I have total sympathy for your situation, I really do, I can’t stand people running out in traffic like that. But I’ll tell you it has a lot to do with the retard drivers in this province who decide to slow down and stop for pedestrians every fucking chance they get, just so they can spoil the pedistrians into being stupid retards as well who run out in traffic, also constantly risking accidents by stopping cars in the middle of busy streets for no good reason except to be supposedly “polite” to the pedestrians. VICIOUS FUCKING CYCLE.