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I am at a moderately busy intersection while walking my dog. I press the crosswalk button, wait for the "safe to cross" signal then walk across the road. As I'm approaching the other side, crossing the last lane of a four lane road, the small SUV (that was stopped a good 15 or 20 feet from the crosswalk) starts to slowly roll forward. I think nothing of it since they were so far away to start with, and I'm just entering their lane which is the last lane to cross before I reach the sidewalk so they might be getting ready for their next move.
Except, they start to speed up.
I have to yank away my poor dog and scream at them ("What are you doing!?") to even get them to stop! The driver, a middle aged woman, LOOKS UP at me from her glowing phone (of course) and just stares blankly then she just keeps on moving without even a look of regret. My dog and I were inches from her SUV. We actually had to walk behind the SUV to safely reach the sidewalk because she was fully in the crosswalk now.
This was the worst incident yet, but PLEASE STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS! It does not take nearly as long as it feels to you to just wait those few seconds for someone to safely cross and reach a safe point (i.e. median, sidewalk, etc.).
Especially, those drivers turning left. Practice patience and don't roll towards me and my dog (who might lunge an odd direction unexpectedly). Even though the tonight's incident did not involve a left-turning car.
I don't want to be hostile but I am tempted to stop walking when a left-turning car starts rolling towards me and hand signal for them to stop. I don't want to be dramatic or vindictive but I do want to communicate that they are making me feel unsafe when I am just a person walking and they are driving a powerful steel cage that can literally destroy me due to their impatience.
Just curious, what part of Cary was this in? The part of Cary I'm in usually determines how aware I am of potential pedestrians.
It's a two way street (no pun intended) - when you have simultaneous green lights and walk signals, both sides really need to be aware. It's much easier for you to see a large car coming than it is for a large car, potentially behind even larger cars, to see you coming.
I realize pedestrians always have the right of way, but I often see pedestrians just walk out like they own the joint and don't give crap if they get hit. Some even popping out from between cars and things like that. Not saying this is you, but I see it all the time. As a pedestrian you need to really be aware of your surroundings.
I learned when I was jogging in North Raleigh to ALWAYS make sure to make eye contact with the drivers of cars to ensure they saw me. One time I couldn't see the driver due to the angle of the sun. She had stopped at the entrance/exit from her apartment complex and there was a van coming down the road. I made the mistake of assuming she was going to wait for the van because she had been sitting there for 10+ seconds already. Just as I was passing in front of her (no sidewalks there, I had to run in the road, but always stayed right at the edge), she pulled out and missed me and my dog by literal inches. That's when I noticed she had been texting and that's why she had been sitting there. After almost hitting me (and still not stopping) she pulled right out in front of the van that had the right of way. I never made that mistake again. I preferred to stop if I could see they were texting or not looking in my direction.
I learned when I was jogging in North Raleigh to ALWAYS make sure to make eye contact with the drivers of cars to ensure they saw me.
This is what I do as well, especially when I'm on a bike. You'll have no idea how many people don't see me when making a right or left turn from a side street if I'm on my bike. If I can't make eye contact with them, I'm just gonna go ahead and let them go.
With the increased number of people I saw blatantly running red lights in my last 1-2 years of living in the Triangle, I'd be very cautious as a pedestrian, to the point of probably avoiding crossing roads altogether when possible (sticking to walking trails etc.). I don't know if it's the congestion, the increase in texting, the general lack of walkability in the area (so drivers are not used to the concept), or most likely all of the above, but I'd now consider it a straight-up dangerous activity. (And I used to run in neighborhoods and cross main intersections all of the time when living in Raleigh proper, 10+ years ago.)
The Triangle now has a mix of drivers from all over the place. Generally speaking, the natives drive slower and will yield, while the northeasterners are in more of a hurry and less patient. I said generally speaking and since I've lived in both places, I can say that from personal experience.
It's a dangerous mix if you ask me and real sorry to hear you got a scare like that. I'm with BlessedLife in that I'd stick with walking trails whenever possible and I personally never bike along a road. And texting while driving or walking is a sure recipe for trouble.
One piece of good advice from a first responder friend: Whenever you are sitting at a redlight and it changes, don't move forward until you've looked both ways and see that no one is coming. Most T-bones happen right after the light changes.
This is why in areas with heavy foot traffic, roads should be designed around making bike/ped movements easy vs. moving as many cars as possible (like downtown areas for example). Not every road needs to be an arterial or highway.
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