Bad Driver Encounters

[marblerye]

DON'T GET ME STARTED on bad driver entounters!

how about younger italian guys from vaughan with riced out hondas or vw golfs who don't look for pedestrians when they turn into a plaza.. they are SOOO focused on the incoming traffic and timing the turn properly so that they can gun it and make it within a tiny little gap of cars.. but FAIL to make sure there are no pedestrians walking while the walk signal is brightly lit..

i got HIT by a car in this situation while crossing the street.. and the worst thing about it is was there were absolutely NO signs of braking or slowing down by that idiot driver until AFTER i got hit.. good thing i walked out of that situation without any serious injury and that i instinctively hopped during the moment of impact onto the car rather than stand there and take the car full on.. i would have probably end up under the car with broken everything below the hips. my body mangled the guys hood and my arm broke the front windshield but miraculously i walked away from that incident without a scratch! i had x-rays done and all and nothing was abnormal! yepp that's right; i'm SUPERMAN!

this was just ONE incident.. I've had sooooo many other close calls too which funny thing is.. were ALWAYS in the woodbridge part of york region.

[AquaNeko]

Originally Posted by marblerye

DON'T GET ME STARTED on bad driver entounters!

how about younger italian guys from vaughan with riced out hondas or vw golfs who don't look for pedestrians when they turn into a plaza.. they are SOOO focused on the incoming traffic and timing the turn properly so that they can gun it and make it within a tiny little gap of cars.. but FAIL to make sure there are no pedestrians walking while the walk signal is brightly lit..

i got HIT by a car in this situation while crossing the street.. and the worst thing about it is was there were absolutely NO signs of braking or slowing down by that idiot driver until AFTER i got hit.. good thing i walked out of that situation without any serious injury and that i instinctively hopped during the moment of impact onto the car rather than stand there and take the car full on.. i would have probably end up under the car with broken everything below the hips. my body mangled the guys hood and my arm broke the front windshield but miraculously i walked away from that incident without a scratch! i had x-rays done and all and nothing was abnormal! yepp that's right; i'm SUPERMAN!

this was just ONE incident.. I've had sooooo many other close calls too which funny thing is.. were ALWAYS in the woodbridge part of york region.

What time of day was this at? I've met my share of bad drivers when I was walking as well. I stayed off the edge by about 2 ft of the an intersection once and this guy turning right was so focused on the left traffic and making a very tight window as it appeared some car was speeding to pass the lights and the guy guns the motor to make the turn while the wheels roll about 1ft into the curb and the guy then sped (sp?) off. That was during the day time. In the evenings I've had people driving that don't check for people walking across the roads while making right turns. This once a mother with a kid in a stroller was crossing the intersection with the pedestrian sign white ok sign and the driver never checked the right side before moving and bumped the stroller. You can imagine the mother there in a state of panick and very upset.

Also in the evenings people almost getting bumped and toes run on by drivers not checking before moving if no one is there. I always carry a bright 200+ lumen flashlight with me. If I'm about to cross a road where the pedestrian sign lights up white I don't beam the driver with 200lm+ in the face but just on the around or below dashboard/hood area so they know I'm there before I move. I find it works very well as you have the drivers attention as you cross the road.

Also if you're in a parking lot in the evening say a supermarket area and you're walking towards or away the supermarket (or the mall, etc) and you're wlaking by a car who has it's rear back up lights on but not moving yet or just inching out I always have a light on my keychain which I turn on and wave it while walking away and around the driver. Most drivers see the light at night and stop. I've had drivers express thanks for that so they can see you. If during the day I just give a little wave with shiney keys so the driver sees you before moving.

I don't see the rush when you're driving in a motor vehicle. You are in a an automobile so why speed and drive erratic and such. Take your time to get from A to B safely. I mean you are after all going faster then people walking, biking, or taking the bus. Maybe it's because I'm rider as well as a driver I see things both ways better and thus when I'm riding I use high power overkill lights which people think I'm a cop cause they're nutty bright and not something you can get off some dept. store cheapie. As a driver in say the intersections I check left, check right for pedestrians, then give a right behind the shoulder look to check for bike riders before moving. It seems many people don't give that extra third back look. That is why I use a high power front strobe light. Be it behind or on the on the side of the car you're going to see it as you're glowing inside.