Streets were made for people. As a person I will walk on the street however I chose.
I do that sometimes, but because it’s one of those shitty intersections that has separate call buttons for parallel crossings. Where, for example, if the east-west car traffic is stopped and the north crosswalk call button was pressed first and the south button was pressed too late into the process, it will give the pedestrian signal for only the north crosswalk, not the south one, even though the cross traffic is stopped for both. It will make you wait an entire cycle before it lets you cross. This happens all the time because if you want to cross diagonally, what do you instinctively do? You press both call buttons at your starting corner because you’re not sure which direction will clear first. But that screws you over on your second crossing because the other parallel side, the one you’re no longer on, now gets priority. I watch for protected right/left signals and if there aren’t any, I cross anyway because the traffic is fucking stopped and the lights are being stupid.
Not recommending other people do this because obviously it’s risky. The protected signals can come on after you’ve started crossing, and in general drivers might be looking at the pedestrian signal instead of actually scanning for people. But if it’s an intersection I’m familiar with, it’s not super busy, and I’m in a rush, I’ll foolishly take the risk.
I’m thinking of making an entire rant on /c/fuckcars about the shitty crosswalks of the Vancouver BC area and how they go out of their way to inconvenience pedestrians if people are interested.
Hey. I respect pedestrians who take initiative. <3
this guy is lucky my brakes are maintained. they frequently end up hurting themselves and others.
Yeah, thank fuck that your legally and physically required safety equipment is functional otherwise you’d have to murder them for the sin of existing in the road. It’s not your fault that we made our transportation infrastructure into the most dangerous game, but he should be extra glad that you’re not gleeful about the murdering that you won’t be doing to him, if you can help it.
i drive a bike. crossing outside the expected places will risk both of us getting very badly hurt. and you’d be surprised at how many will neglect their own safety equipment, making this an even riskier game to play.
people will straight up die tragically if they slip in their careful responsibility, shit’s insane out there. i’ve personally been through enough near misses in every mode of transportation that i don’t fuck around like that.
Gotta love idiots that cross the road while the rest of us are waiting for the traffic lights to turn red.
No point gambling your life to save an extra 8 seconds. One day they won’t be so lucky. But some people are just stupid.
Bicycle behavior
