please empty your brain below
In a few hours time it will be Comments (24)

And certainly not on the subject of pedestrians. Oh no.

Another Andrew | 18.01.07 - 7:28 a.m. | #

I watched in horror a near fatal crash of the type you describe on Strand- the jay walker ran in front of of a motorbike (while clearly on red / wait for the walker) and both knocked the biker off and was a real mess herself.

And as for those maniac cyclists....

/ac

Strandman | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 7:48 a.m. | #

Can I throw older persons' buggies being driven on the pavement into the mix so that us out-of-towners can have a go as well?

Recently I've heard of 2 incidents - in one a car was seriously scraped (£1400 worth of damage) by a passing buggy that failed to stop, and in the other someone spent 7 weeks in hospital having been knocked down by one.

And they don't even have to have insurance! Just like horse riders...

Blue Witch | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 7:55 a.m. | #

But as we recently learned - jay walking is not illegal: http:/
ews.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magaz...ine/
6251431.stm

Why should a pedestrian suffer in the rain while a car driver sits in warm comfort slowing heating the planet with their emissions.

Anyway - I think there is an argument for differing pedestrian behaviours in central London to that of the suburbs. The traffic is slower (and shouldn't really be there most of the time) and there are more pedestrian (majority rules).

Us pedestrians should unite and claim back the streets from these modern day motorised buggies!

tim | 18.01.07 - 8:13 a.m. | #

The problem is if you are used to living in London and then go somewhere else, like a small town. It is very hard to get out of the habit of diving across the road at the first available opportunity and you tend to p*ss people off.
It's especially fun in the German speaking world where people will not hesitate to tell you off in the street! It's hard to explain that your legs still think you're in London....

dan | 18.01.07 - 9:20 a.m. | #

DG, yesterday you wrote "Sorry if you've overdosed on London-stuff here lately. I've just spouted six consecutive days of capital-based bloggage, and it's time for a break"

So was it a very short break or did you not regard this as London thing (as the previous comment confirms) ?

Pedantic of Purley | 18.01.07 - 9:46 a.m. | #

Here in Luton the reason many people jump red lights is due to the Council buggering about with traffic light timings. Some junctions are only green for 8 seconds before going red. This leads to "amber gamblers" when only one car can get through at a time, then you have to wait a further 5 min.

Furnitureman | 18.01.07 - 9:48 a.m. | #

Was it the junction outside Holborn tube that inspired this post?

When I worked round there, the squealing of bus brakes was a constant background noise as people island-hopped their way across the road.

Michael | 18.01.07 - 10:37 a.m. | #

Since I moved to Germany, I've been shocked at how cavalier pedestrians in the UK can be. Here, people still cross on the red man, but there are signs at most crossings that remind you "Den Kinder ein Vorbild" [set a good example to children] and there is a marked tendency to check first if there are kids watching. Still, that's no excuse for grown men and women to wait at crossings on deserted streets staring at - and obeying - the signal without once looking left and right...

And when it comes to cyclists, I don't like to see everyone with a single similar characteristic tarred with the same brush. Except taxi drivers, of course, all of whom are wänkers.

Wayne | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 10:44 a.m. | #

For goodness' sake it's "flout the law" not "flaunt the law". What's the matter with you?

Christie | 18.01.07 - 10:46 a.m. | #

Ever helpful, I have constructed this tool for you, as I thought you might find it useful to thwack all passing cyclists. To deploy, dunk in any handy invective and apply liberally. You may find that, as you use it, a quantity splashes back on you, but hey, why spoil a good story?

Ham | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 11:12 a.m. | #

I think you should put a link back to your earlier post about cyclists.

For reference, like. Not that I am trying to stir things up, oh no.

The Girl | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 11:32 a.m. | #

Try driving up Charing Cross Road past Leicester Square between the hours of 1am and 4am. It's like the monkey enclosure at Longleat.

Huw | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 11:42 a.m. | #

Absolutely Ham.

Silly Geezer.

NiC | 18.01.07 - 12:12 p.m. | #

Just tough.

Yay for London pedestrians! Just say NO to selfish noxious greenhouse gas emitting traffic!

Ken, time to raise the conjestion charge!

Hedgie | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 12:29 p.m. | #

Did your parents refuse to buy you a bike for Christmas as a kid, DG? Hence the rage?

Or were you made to keep your stabilisers on until you were 14?

It's the cars that are the problem, and the way our cities have been torn to ribbons to accommodate them.

CZ | 18.01.07 - 12:35 p.m. | #

Number One Daughter's just got a £60 fine/3 points for jumping a red light. She was so busy watching the speedo - because a police car had pulled in behind her - that she didn't see the lights change...

So now we have a crim in da house

Mr.D. | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 12:38 p.m. | #

Exactly - only in crowded city centres where space is at a premium is this an issue. You should be walking or cycling in these areas anyway!

Reclaim the (city centre) streets from noisy, polluting, bone crushing vehicles!

vagrant | 18.01.07 - 12:39 p.m. | #

Pedestrians should have the right of way, and priority. After all, they are in the most vulnerable position. I have yet to hear of a car being written off, and the driver killed, in a collision with a pedestrian who walked away unharmed.

ian | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 12:50 p.m. | #

I say "bollocks!" to car drivers.

(not to their faces, mind)

Inspector Sands | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 1:13 p.m. | #

These pedestrians. They don't cook their chicken long enough, that's why they're always thin. And have they been touching my food?

quin | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 2:39 p.m. | #

New York City is where I've noticed they've elevated the art of the of 'two legged chancers' to an Olympic level.

I remember being astonished once to witness an atheletic black dude in running shoes, who actually took up a stance like a sprinter waiting for the gun by the edge of the intersection. Then he carefully judged a 1/2 second gap between cars and launched himself off through the gap in traffic.

John | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 2:55 p.m. | #

If this really is a problem, then perhaps we need to change the law to make jay-walking illegal. Otherwise we can continue to use our powers to walk across roads whenever we like (and why not, we are helping to reduce our emissions!).

Kevinho | 18.01.07 - 5:15 p.m. | #

I have long failed to see the wisdom of doing what is essentially walking INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC. Oh, and when you're waiting to cross and some damn fool honks at you to cross, it's like, 'Do I tell you when to drive? No. So don't tell me when to cross!' Grrr!!

china blue | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 7:03 p.m. | #

There's a shame - my advance photoshop skills going to waste. If you can't hotlink from haloscan, here it is.

Ham | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 8:13 p.m. | #

I'll wait for the green man when cars start stopping for me at zebras without being bullied into it.

I think it will be a while before that happens ...

disgruntled commuter | Homepage | 18.01.07 - 8:17 p.m. | #

It's not just London, obviously. Dublin is just as bad.

Dublin has an additional problem. You'll be standing at a junction, at a pedestrian crossing, all traffic coming down the stretch of road that you want to cross is stopped, but the pedestrian signal is still at red. For minutes at a time, sometimes. And because it's at red, the natural assumption is "oh well, it's about to change". But it doesn't. You stand there looking stupidly at the traffic that's looking stupidly back at you. Eventually you decide to cross.

And it's at that point that a cyclist decides that red lights are "optional" and plows straight in to you.

That's a far more worrying situation than diplomatic relationships between Bollywood and the nation of Oxo.

Alan | 19.01.07 - 10:44 a.m. | #

How many UK drivers act as though they know this paragraph of the Highway Code:
146: Take extra care at junctions. You should
* ...
* watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way
* ...

My impression of London traffic is that if you don't hurl yourself off the pavement into gaps in the traffic you will be stuck for ever.

And I do agree with the poster above about drivers sitting in comfort looking disdainfully at rain-soaked pedestrians without considering what a huge difference crossing \\_now\\_ makes to them.

Ghb | 19.01.07 - 8:26 p.m. | #

Boston is really bad for jaywalking, but it's also known for being a "walking" city. It's compact, and the streets are narrow, thus making crossings easy.

It's just that Bostonians won't wait for the light or cross at the intersection.

I worked there for four years and adopted their habits within six months.

Josh | Homepage | 20.01.07 - 1:22 a.m. | #

Oh come on, pedestrian flow would be completely fucked up if we did not jaywalk. My trip would be 10 minutes longer every day, at least. You just need to learn how to do it. It's not illegal or anything, it's a skill you will acquire by living in the city.
Some people are just not very good at it.

sweek | 20.01.07 - 11:09 a.m. | #

Everyone has the right to walk on the highway.

Vehicles and their drivers require licences.

I'll wait for the green man when car drivers realise that an amber light means 'stop'. A flashing amber means 'stop...........................unless there is nobody crossing'.

Gert | Homepage | 21.01.07 - 5:24 p.m. | #











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