I nearly died and possibly saved a life or two this afternoon!
I'm a serial amber-light pedestrian crosser. Some smart postie once told me familiarity breeds contempt - At intersections I know, I often start crossing on the amber light when I know that as soon as it goes red, the little green man will light my way. I hate walking in crowds, and this gets me to the front of the que.
This particular day, I didn't do it on Broadway, because the buses in the bus lane can be damned scary! As I crossed the second lane, I looked into the oncoming traffic and just as I was about to step into the third lane, I casually noticed the guy was going very fast... he saw me, pulled an amazing :0 face, slammed on the breaks, shot right by me and went more then half-way into the intersection. He stopped less then 2 meters away from the car turning right onto broadway. I estiamate a distance of about 30 meters from when he saw me and where he stopped. The speed limit on the road is 60 or 70 Kmph.
Two observations:
1. If I walked on the orange light and didn't look up - I'd be dead or at least in hospital.
2. If the driver hadn't of seen me at all, he would have ploughed right into the passenger side of the other car. He certainly didn't seem to see the red-light.
Interesting times.
4 comments:
At least I know now, according to ABS stats, I'll be safe crossing the road the rest of my life! The odds of nearly getting hit, and getting hit are very very slim indeed.
Apparently people who don't drive (and I'm quite proud of that) are only likely to be involved in one accident or near accident in their lifetime.
luky for you if those stats are true, cos if you had been hit not only would you have been in hospital or dead but in the wrong as well - its just as illegal for you to cross on the amber as it is for the driver to go thruogh the red light ( which may not have been red for him if the little green man had not yet given you the go ahead!)
personally i think there are too many idiots who speed up at the sight of an amber light to take the risk of crossing without that little green man winking at me ( maybe hes winkman who wants to brighten everyones day so they can live to see another?)
Hello Anonymums from Cobram... actually - I was crossing on the green... as I say in the post, I was too scared of the buses in the bus lane at that particular intersection to cross on the amber... and it was def. a red light for that aprticular crazy driver... a very red light since I'd already made it half way across the intersection...
However, you are correct - if i was crossing on the amber light... I daresay I probably wouldn't have made the post!
Just for the record - the stats are just to make my mum feel better, because I know how she worries so... but they do have some foundation to them.
Well she wouldn't worry if you waited for the little green man to wink at you EVERY time!
We all know time is precious, but being too impatient to cross with the green man could mean the end of time for you.
You gotta weigh the pros with the cons.
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