In my residential neighborhood, corner with no stop sign or marked crosswalk. Young lady with black hair and all black clothing walked in front of me. Slammed on the brakes a few yards from hitting her. Scared the carp out of both of us. She did have white headphones on though. Guess I should have seen them?
Many don't understand the laws about yielding to peds in crosswalks. Many of those are the pedestrians themselves. Your local Walmart proves that. Peds are required to check for oncoming traffic before crossing the street. Too many just walk right out believing they have the right of way, period.
Had a huge black bear run across right in front of me a couple weeks ago. No white headphones though. Good thing I picked up on some movement on the shoulder before I got there and had my foot on the brake.
I don't know why people think wearing all black at night is a good idea. I'm glad you didn't hit the young lady!
If you live around a college town you know how bad this can be. Some students walk across streets looking at their phones and never even look up. When they are at a crosswalk at least the driver can expect it but when they walk across mid block or random location is a total surprise at times.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of people that go out in low light or at night and wear nothing but dark colors. Sorta like the person in a white/silver vehicle that drives in a heavy fog and doesn't use their lights. Common sense just ain't common any more I reckon.
Anyway, glad to here you didn't hit 'em. It'll mess you up mentally even if it wasn't your fault.
Headphones here is key. I see so many people wearing headphones or ear buds totally oblivious to their surroundings. Muggers of course love this. There have been numerous Darwin awards because of it.
Headphones here is key. I see so many people wearing headphones or ear buds totally oblivious to their surroundings. Muggers of course love this. There have been numerous Darwin awards because of it.
While I certainly feel sorry for anyone who might hit one of these nincompoops I think they offer definitive proof of the law of Natural Selection at work.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of people that go out in low light or at night and wear nothing but dark colors. Sorta like the person in a white/silver vehicle that drives in a heavy fog and doesn't use their lights. Common sense just ain't common any more I reckon.
Anyway, glad to here you didn't hit 'em. It'll mess you up mentally even if it wasn't your fault.
Most people have DRL's on their vehicles these days. They're better than nothing but only for the front. The vast majority of vehicles don't have Tail Lights or Side Markers when DRL's are on.
when people think the are seen wearing all black at night is just an accident waiting to happen.
When i was younger and riding my bike it was required to have lights/reflectors on my bike. But now adays, i dont see that and LEOs dont do anything about it either. even not riding a bike, i always wear some light/bright clothes. I know if i wear one of my jackets it has some reflectiont tape on it.
But when i see things like that, the pedestrian may have a "right" to do what they want and how they want to do it, but they wont win a fight between a 4000 lb car and the all black clothes clothes they wear.
its their mentality of "being in the right" that will get them killed real fast.
On my travels, it will vary how you cross the street. In the UK it will take me 1full day to get into the Look the other way mindset. Some places are better than others and some places you take your life in your own hands when crossing the street.
Yup, I turned a corner at an intersection where there were no street lights and came to an abrupt brake slamming halt as about four kids on their bikes and their mother jammed across a crosswalk. All the kids were wearing dark clothing, on black bikes, and the kids were black kids. The mom started yelling at me "can't you see them?" So, hoping to wake her up to her situation I yelled back " of course I can't see them- dark clothes and bikes on an unlit street?" I think she got the message...
Yup, I turned a corner at an intersection where there were no street lights and came to an abrupt brake slamming halt as about four kids on their bikes and their mother jammed across a crosswalk. All the kids were wearing dark clothing, on black bikes, and the kids were black kids. The mom started yelling at me "can't you see them?" So, hoping to wake her up to her situation I yelled back " of course I can't see them- dark clothes and bikes on an unlit street?" I think she got the message...
Bob
We had a whole family taken out like that in Rhode Island. Was a black family walking in the dark with no lights and dark clothes..
When i used to ride I had neon yellow jacket 4 lights on the front wheel lights and two tail lights. And Still got hit at night.
Good thing I picked up on some movement on the shoulder before I got there and had my foot on the brake.
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