Almost hit someone with my car

[Canai]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: Jeraden
A few years ago there was some story about a similar situation. A driver stopped and waved a pedestrian to cross the street in front of them, so the person crosses the street, doesn't check the other lane, and got hit by another car and killed. The story was how the driver that waved the girl across was on trial for manslaughter. And if I remember correctly, they were found guilty. I guess he was implicitly telling the girl (a teenager/minor) to cross and somehow that overrides the personal responsibility of the girl to look both ways. At least I think that was the story. The big difference in that one was it was a 4 lane highway or something.
So if you did kill her, you could have sent the other motorist to jail!

That's ridiculous if true.

KT

I remember that. Wasn't the girl who was hit brain dead or something along those lines? I thought she didn't die right away for some reason...

 

[KMFJD]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: KMFJD
If you paid attention you should have never come that close to hitting her.

i had my foot over the brake as soon as i saw her check my lane the first time. she literally started crossing while looking at the other driver. i was paying plenty attention. if i wasnt paying attention i would have just drove right by her without even noticing how close she came to being hit.

I just wanted to get the typical ATOT response out of the way for everyone

 

[thepd7]

OP, as it has been said, in many states if there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk you must STOP. Not even yield, straight up STOP. If this is the case in your state then you were very much in the wrong since you should have stopped as soon as you saw a pedestrian in the crosswalk. This would also explain why the car traveling the other direction was stopped. Check your local laws.

 

[kalrith]

I remember a similar situation several years ago. There was a four-lane road in front of a school, and it was a major road through town. The speed limit was 30. There were three crosswalks with lights in front of the school, but some kids were waiting to cross at a spot where there wasn't a light or a crosswalk (jaywalking basically). Some moron in the right lane stops and waves the kids across while there is a ton of traffic moving at about 35mph in all the other lanes. The kids crossed the street without looking as though they had a green light at a crosswalk. They came within a couple of feet of getting creamed. The guy who stopped for them probably thought the person who almost hit them was at fault.

I've also seen the same thing happen countless times with someone in the right lane of a multi-lane road stopping and waving on someone who is turning left. That's great if you're at a red light and the person turning makes sure the other lanes also stop. But I hate it when someone just decides to be "polite" and stop at a random place in the road with no red light in order to wave a car or pedestrian on.

 

[lokiju]

I hate when dipshits do that with letting cars cut across when traffic is backed up.

I've nearly nailed people a number of times because some idiot in the other direction gives the wave to go on and the person goes without even thinking "is the other direction aware

 

[maziwanka]

Originally posted by: KMFJD
If you paid attention you should have never come that close to hitting her.

you have no clue wtf you're talking about

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

The legal question of who's right on this topic are going to be driven by local and state codes.

According to the laws here in Madison, the OP did nothing wrong. Pedestrians must exercise some caution before stepping into a cross walk. You can't just walk out into traffic and make people slam on their brakes.

On the other hand, given that the pedestrian was a child, and that the OP had full view of the situation, he should have predicted that this MIGHT happen and slowed down accordingly.

Therefore, I'd suggest that both the pedestrian and the OP committed critical errors of judgement.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: crystal
if you know she wants to cross the street, why didn't you stop in the first place?

because i had the right of way?

Doh, fail.

 

[Cuda1447]

Its a little girl. Be more cautious around kids!

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
Was there a crosswalk?

Yeah this is a pretty essential part of the story.

yeah there was a crosswalk, no lights.

Well, you know that peds have the right of way in a crosswalk, right?

 

[Nemesis 1]

Ran day count your blessing you didn't injur that child. What alarms me. Is the fact you seen the other car stopped . You should have been ready. If you were in school zone . Doesn't that have reduced speeds? Around here School zone is 15mph. I feel thats to fast in these zones.

 

[suse920]

So a young girl is waiting to cross the street at a crosswalk, one car had already stopped to let her go across and you still don't have the decency to let her go wtf? In my state this is breaking the law, but above that you wont take 5 seconds of your time to make sure some kid can cross the street without getting mowed down?
Wow

 

[LTC8K6]

You stop before they enter the crosswalk. When you see a ped waiting on the sidewalk at a crosswalk, you stop and let them cross.

You were supposed to stop when you saw her on the sidewalk wanting to cross.

However, she shouldn't have assumed you would obey the law.

 

[randay]

on second thought its an intersection at the top of a hill, it should have a stop light. i bet this kind of thing happens there every day. i will just have to be extra careful from now on. hopefully they put a stop light but i doubt it. they usually dont do that until someone gets hurt/killed, which is unfortunate.

 

[mugs]

Another nail in the little girl's coffin.

(randay would get that, most of the rest of you can ignore it)

Seriously - the way I read randay's story, he hit the brakes as soon as she ran out into the road and still nearly hit the girl. You all are saying that he has to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk - which it sounds like he did everything in his power to do, and barely was able to do so. What he did not do was yield to a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

You can't just run out in front of cars and expect them to be able to stop in time, crosswalk or no crosswalk.

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/.../bills/HB2084_HD2_.htm

As used in this subsection, "yield" means stopping as required to avoid injury or damage.

(b) This section shall not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for the pedestrian's own safety.

(c) No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and proceed into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.

Little girl was wrong, randay was not.

 

[imported_Imp]

Reminds me of Rebecca Gayheart. Bla bla bla, other cars stopped to let a little kid jay-walk, she didn't, manslaughter (?), lawsuit.

 

[suse920]

Originally posted by: mugs
Another nail in the little girl's coffin.



Seriously - the way I read randay's story, he hit the brakes as soon as she ran out into the road and still nearly hit the girl. You all are saying that he has to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk - which it sounds like he did everything in his power to do, and barely was able to do so. What he did not do was yield to a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

You can't just run out in front of cars and expect them to be able to stop in time, crosswalk or no crosswalk.

i'm not saying he commited a mortal sin and should lose his license. But when another car is stop and a little girl i waiting to cross a crosswalk i think its pretty safe to say one should allow her to cross. I wouldnt be saying the same thing if he was dealing with an adult.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: suse920

Originally posted by: mugs
Another nail in the little girl's coffin.



Seriously - the way I read randay's story, he hit the brakes as soon as she ran out into the road and still nearly hit the girl. You all are saying that he has to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk - which it sounds like he did everything in his power to do, and barely was able to do so. What he did not do was yield to a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

You can't just run out in front of cars and expect them to be able to stop in time, crosswalk or no crosswalk.

i'm not saying he commited a mortal sin and should lose his license. But when another car is stop and a little girl i waiting to cross a crosswalk i think its pretty safe to say one should allow her to cross. I wouldnt be saying the same thing if he was dealing with an adult.

I'm under the impression that this all happened pretty quickly, and he reacted as soon as it became evident what was happening.

 

[sutahz]

Crosswalks gives pedestrians the right of way. If the pedestrian steps out at a time which gives you no time to react, hopefully there are witnesses to say the pedestrian is at fault otherwise all the authorities will see is the crosswalk/injured pedestrian/your skid marks

 

[Goosemaster]

So what you're saying is that you have bad aim....?

 

[KMFJD]

Originally posted by: maziwanka

Originally posted by: KMFJD
If you paid attention you should have never come that close to hitting her.

you have no clue wtf you're talking about

Neither do you so

 

[D1gger]

Originally posted by: randay

Originally posted by: KMFJD
If you paid attention you should have never come that close to hitting her.

i had my foot over the brake as soon as i saw her check my lane the first time. she literally started crossing while looking at the other driver. i was paying plenty attention. if i wasnt paying attention i would have just drove right by her without even noticing how close she came to being hit.

I think what happened is that she glanced at you, you lifted off the gas to put your foot over the brake, which caused your car to slow and change attitude slightly (the front end dips a small amount), she sees your car slowing looks the other way and sees the car stopping and steps into the road, believing that both cars are stopping for her. People make snap judgements based on what they think they see, and thankfully you were able to stop.

In my jurisdiction, the pedestrian is given the right of way at all intersections, whether there is a crosswalk or not, so we have to be very alert for people charging out into traffic.

 

[suse920]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: suse920

Originally posted by: mugs
Another nail in the little girl's coffin.



Seriously - the way I read randay's story, he hit the brakes as soon as she ran out into the road and still nearly hit the girl. You all are saying that he has to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk - which it sounds like he did everything in his power to do, and barely was able to do so. What he did not do was yield to a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

You can't just run out in front of cars and expect them to be able to stop in time, crosswalk or no crosswalk.

i'm not saying he commited a mortal sin and should lose his license. But when another car is stop and a little girl i waiting to cross a crosswalk i think its pretty safe to say one should allow her to cross. I wouldnt be saying the same thing if he was dealing with an adult.

I'm under the impression that this all happened pretty quickly, and he reacted as soon as it became evident what was happening.

True it could have been blind because of the hill he was going up, hard to tell.
It also sounds like he went through an intersection and then braked? When he could have braked in the middle of the intersection? My image is kinda fuzzy about the ordeal.
I think its safe to say that less aggressive driving around schools in the morning is in order.

 

[imported_Lathspell]

I don't know if I ever saw so many identical answers to the same sentence. But then again, I'm new here, so meh...
I witnessed a similar situation that actually ended with a nasty accident. Only it happened in the evening. Still, the crosswalk lights were on and bright. The driver on the first lane stopped, letting a middle aged woman pass the street. By the time she reached the second lane, a car hits her like a bullet, though the driver did push the brakes before the crosswalk. After the police arrived and measurements were taken, apparently the trail the car made from when pressing the brake and until stopping was about 9 meters long, and the woman flew through the air another 7 meters (sry about the metric system, but I don't use feet and I'm too lazy to convert). And still somehow the woman not only survived, but had no vital organs touched. Got out of hospital in a couple of weeks. I can only imagine that driver's speed...And even more surprising, she got away. The family decided not to press charges after all. She just got her license suspended...

 

[Tommouse]

Originally posted by: mugs
Another nail in the little girl's coffin.

(randay would get that, most of the rest of you can ignore it)

Seriously - the way I read randay's story, he hit the brakes as soon as she ran out into the road and still nearly hit the girl. You all are saying that he has to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk - which it sounds like he did everything in his power to do, and barely was able to do so. What he did not do was yield to a pedestrian on the sidewalk.

You can't just run out in front of cars and expect them to be able to stop in time, crosswalk or no crosswalk.

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/.../bills/HB2084_HD2_.htm

As used in this subsection, "yield" means stopping as required to avoid injury or damage.

(b) This section shall not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for the pedestrian's own safety.

(c) No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and proceed into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.

Little girl was wrong, randay was not.

I agree, sounds like you did what you could. People shouldn't be walking out in front of cars and expecting them to stop, unless they're looking to get creamed.

I'm also surprised with the majority of reactions. As I was expecting people to go easier on him since most on this board preach personal responsibility, but you end up crucifying randay for expecting someone else to have a little common sense. I'm guessing the response to that is to have the common sense to assume they have none ... ugh