A new word for zebra crossings

[Max Headroom]

I was half way across a zebra crossing outside our local Focus store, black and white lines on the road, and was half way across when a car went zooming past me. I thought "wtf!!!" and a minute or so later this lady comes along and says sorry but the crossing was not real and was only a suggestion!! she hadn't stopped because others didn't. I was gobsmacked and lost for words.

 

I wonder if someone threw a brick through a plate glass window, would she do it because they had.

 

I shall now be stepping out a lot more carefully ffs

[Havard]

Zebra crossings are just for the occasional Zebra that might be knocking about near Focus!! They are more of a guide than anything, same as traffic lights. If it has only been red for a couple of seconds then you are still ok to go through!!

 

H.

[Fifty]

 

everything about Focus is not real:p:)

 

and heres a zebra crossing joke

 

what did the Jamaican saying as he was walking across the zebra crossing

 

"now you see me, now you dont, now you....."

 

Rich

[Blackie]

If it has only been red for a couple of seconds then you are still ok to go through!!

 

H.

 

i'm with you on this one, but only on private roads

[SupraStar 3000]

We have a pelican crossing near us,.... now I'm no Bill Oddie but I'm sure Pelicans are coastal birds found mostly around American and Australian,.. NOT the midlands outside Kwiksave

[Havard]

This reminds me of an altercation I had with some fat woman in the Tesco car park in Wigan. The car park is quite clearly laid out where the road around the perimeter of the car park has priority over the people parked in the centre aisles as each aisle has a double white line at each end.

 

As I was driving towards the exit a woman pulls out about 15 feet from my Celica. I beeped my horn angrily and the woman actually gets out of her car and starts giving me shit. I had my 7 year old in the car with me so I had to be careful what I said.... The woman says "What are you beeping at?" I replied "You pulled out straight in front of me when you are supposed to give way to me. Can you see the white lines? That is what they mean!!"

 

She then says "It's give way both ways here!!":blink:

 

I then had to think carefully and said "Oh FFS, get back in your heap of a car you stupid fat bitch!!

 

She walked off calling me a dickhead or something but my daughter found it hilarious!!

 

H.

[SupraStar 3000]

No word of a lie, I had a police car pull along side me a few weeks ago and tell me off for pulling out of a side road because it was "one way". Before I could reply he said I was lucky not to be booked and to pay attention to road signs before driving off.

 

Its not "one way". The road had parked cars facing both ways, a "Give way" sign at the end of the road and white lines along the middle like a normal road.

[neil tt]

Most people round swindon think its their road and nobody elses:d

[Mrs H]

I've lost count of the number of times I've stood, with the baby in his pram, waiting to cross the zebra crossing and cars just zoom past totally oblivious. I usually end up looking like a mentalist shouting abuse at traffic, but it really frustrates me:rolleyes:

 

Vicki x

[Max Headroom]

I've lost count of the number of times I've stood, with the baby in his pram, waiting to cross the zebra crossing and cars just zoom past totally oblivious. I usually end up looking like a mentalist shouting abuse at traffic, but it really frustrates me:rolleyes:

 

Vicki x

 

I was always led to believe that if you were on the zebra crossing you had priority. Obviously not!!

[Shadow Beast]

Zebra crossings are just for the occasional Zebra that might be knocking about near Focus!! They are more of a guide than anything, same as traffic lights. If it has only been red for a couple of seconds then you are still ok to go through!!

H.

 

Ive just 3 points and a 60 quid fine from the courts for jumping an amber light!!!!

 

it carries the same penalty as a red light, not a lot of people know this. i was suprised, i originally went to court to fight it but a friend of ours is a solicter and showed me the book of law and its in there in black and white. so had to bow out gracefully.

 

so just be carefull if you do decide to go for it!

 

richie

[RedM]

What is there in law that dictates the exact moment you jump an amber light rather than be too close to stop either behind the line and not in the middle of the junction?

[Shadow Beast]

it was a set of lights with one of the camera's set up on it, just come off the A45 at northampton so its still 70 as its dual carraige way, the 40 limit dont start till round the other side. so as its on amber i go for it, no point in stopping as i am doing 60, camera flashes and when the picture comes through, there i am in my van front wheels over the line on a amber light, second pic is further on but a red light,

 

job done 60 quid 3 points, but i agree with you it should be more a defined law.

 

richie

[Guigsy]

If its amber and i would have to stamp on it to stop i dont. some dozy fucker beind me would only assume im going through and ram me.

Especialy as i can probably stop in half the distance of whatever shit heap he is driving... And he is probably on drugs... or on the phone... Or lighting a fag... Or programming his satnav... Or bragging to his mate how good his beemer is...

[Havard]

Really surprised about the amber light thing!! Although my post about red lights was sarcastic.....

 

What I want to know is, when the are commissioning sets of traffic lights do they set the length of time between amber and red depending upon the speed of the road??

 

If there is a 2 sec gap on a 30 mph road then surely it should be longer on a quicker road??

 

Also, who sets the time between your light turning to red and the opposite/adjacent ones turning to green. There is a junction in Wigan where they almost change at the same time. Anybody who goes through a red even a second late is certainly going to collide with another vehicle. Some sets of lights have about 2 or 3 seconds gap between the same change??

 

H.

[supra steveo]

report the daft bitch to the police for dangerous driving that will piss on her parade

[Shadow Beast]

when all the gumph came through and the pics in there was a load of bollocks about how the camera was set ans calibrated and the light had been on amber for a duration of X secs and then the elapsed time of the red showing was 0.8 secs and so on, they baffle you with that stuff and witness statements saying who loaded it and set the times and other stuff, what really pissed me off was for years i have been driving for years in all sorts of vehicles including fast bikes, and have always gone on the amber, just this time i was unlucky, shit happens i know, but just be warned they are out to get you.

 

richie

[Scoboblio]

To be pedantic here, an amber light means you stop unless it's unsafe to do so. So it's not legally acceptable to say 'I'll keep going since it's only amber'. If you can stafely stop, you should do.

 

On the zebra crossing topic, I hate them with a passion. I know they're necessary in some circumstances, but I get very paranoid driving past them. Some pedestrians are just as ignorant and will happily bound into the road without warning, or even checking that the traffic is physically able to stop in time, because it's "their right of way". Very difficult to spot in a busy town centre or in the dark.

 

I think there should be a sign on each light post next to the crossing, telling people to stop and wait for the traffic to stop or slow before they step out.

[Havard]

I love the people who walk along the pavement and then suddenly turn right to use the Zebra crossing!!

 

As you approach you have no idea if they plan on crossing or not! I went through one the other day and a guy who'd given me no chance to stop started giving me the verbals!!

 

If I am at a zebra crossing I expect that if a car was right near the crossing to go through as they wouldn't have time to stop but this pillock was on another planet of expectation.....

 

H.

[Pete]

it carries the same penalty as a red light, not a lot of people know this.

 

 

AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident

So they would've had to prove using maths that at the speed limit when you crossed the line you would've been able to safely stop rather than go through.

[Shadow Beast]

some thing like that, what they said was because the amber had been on for X secs then i should of stopped, fair enough i hold my hands up to that, the car behind me prob could not of stopped if i had done suddenly, and the grief of someone going in the back of me was not worth it, one thing to remember though there are no camera's facing behind my van, so it is your word against there's!!!! you'll lose.

 

as for the maths part that is what the electronics in the camera do with elapsed time and speed and distance, they had me good.

 

thinking about it though now, whilst typing this it would of been better to let the guy go up my arse and then claim compensation and whiplash and a new van, oh well the astra will do for now.

 

richie

[Oddball]

I've lost count of the number of times I've stood, with the baby in his pram, waiting to cross the zebra crossing and cars just zoom past totally oblivious. I usually end up looking like a mentalist shouting abuse at traffic, but it really frustrates me:rolleyes:

 

Vicki x

 

I agree. Also the arseholes who stop on crossings while waiting in traffic, making it hard to get the pram round them. Especially lorries.

[tbourner]

If a pedestrian is on a zebra it's illegal to drive over it, so technically if someone on the pavement pulls a sudden turn and steps onto the crossing the driver HAS to stop no matter how close they are. If they're too close then they weren't driving with enough awareness. I ALWAYS slow down when approaching a zebra if someone is walking along the pavement.

 

As for lights, I usually work out the highway code stopping distance (minus thinking time) for my speed, then guess how far that is from the lights. If I'm within that distance I don't stop (some of them have gone red before). Surely if the highway code says I won't be able to stop in time then it must be dangerous to try?

[Mike_Mac]

If a pedestrian is on a zebra it's illegal to drive over it, so technically if someone on the pavement pulls a sudden turn and steps onto the crossing the driver HAS to stop no matter how close they are. If they're too close then they weren't driving with enough awareness.

 

Almost, but not quite:

 

''At all crossings. When using any type of crossing you should

 

always check that the traffic has stopped before you start to cross or push a pram onto a crossing

always cross between the studs or over the zebra markings. Do not cross at the side of the crossing or on the zig-zag lines, as it can be dangerous

You MUST NOT loiter on any type of crossing.

 

[Laws ZPPPCRGD reg 19 & RTRA sect 25(5)]

 

19

Zebra crossings. Give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross. Vehicles will need more time when the road is slippery. Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing. Keep looking both ways, and listening, in case a driver or rider has not seen you and attempts to overtake a vehicle that has stopped.

 

20

Where there is an island in the middle of a zebra crossing, wait on the island and follow Rule 19 before you cross the second half of the road – it is a separate crossing.''

 

It is the pedestrians responsibility to ensure that traffic has stopped BEFORE they move onto the crossing. Once they do, however, they have right of way over traffic.

 

(Whether they do or not is another matter, though)

 

From here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070108

[Guigsy]

people should have to take a test before they walk down the road... idiots.