Scary Random Pedestrian Encounter
 

I realize there's an ongoing thread about almost hitting pedestrians, but that one's turned into a debate on the merits of various lighting and home decor options, and I feel like I have to share the crazy pedestrian interaction I enjoyed today. I realize most people living in bigger cities (the NYC crowd especially) will laugh riotously at how commonplace this sort of thing probably is for them, but it scared the hell out of me:

This morning, riding in to work, I'm about a hundred yards past an intersection, mid-block, in the lovely new double-wide bike lane they just finished painting on a three-lane east/west artery I spend about 5km on (used to be four lanes, til they widened the bike lanes); ahead I see an older couple walking together on the sidewalk, in the same direction as me. I was aware of them, and they were the only potential hazard in my next hundred meters, so I kept an eye on them - but it did me no good at all when the lady of the couple, who had been walking nearest the curb, abruptly turned and strode into the road like Moses parting the waters! No glance over the shoulder, no pause, not the slightest hint in her body language that she was planning to step out into a fairly busy roadway.

I didn't have time to think about how to react, so instinct made me swerve hard into the traffic lane on my left to avoid the lady; thankfully the intersection behind us had cycled, so there was no traffic in the lane - if there had been, I would have been run down, as I imagine would she. After I cleared the hazard zone and returned to the bike lane, I pulled over, heart pounding, and looked back over my shoulder to see the lady, now on the opposite side of the road, shaking her fist at me, and her partner - now abandoned on my side of the road - sort of giving this sheepish shrug, like "yeah, sometimes she does that."

All day it's been eating at me: I try hard to take proactive responsibility for my own safety, to be actively engaged in my interactions with traffic, and not to discount the unexpected behaviour of other road users - but this completely blindsided me. One second of difference would have seen me strike her at speed, no doubt leading to serious injury for us both. If the intersection behind us had been at a different point in its cycle, my instinctive swerve would probably have killed me. How can you defend and protect against that kind of thing? Or is it just a basic risk I have to live with?

You just have to thank your lucky stars. It's stuff like this that makes me think about not riding, but then I snap back to reality. During the course of my driving to work there are numerous instances when things could have gone horribly wrong, but they did, partly because of my own skills as a driver and partly because of luck. I like to think that it's more of the former. To take it further, really, life is fraught with dangers; it doesn't mean we stop living.

I think you just have keep being vigilant.

That is scary. I've been in similar situations. The best I can say is to maintain constant awareness of when traffic is about to pass you. I can hear the approach pretty reliably. That helps you with quick situations where you know without checking that is probably safe or not. But always also do what you can to see an approaching tight situation and slow down (or speed up). Anticipated what you can. Be suspicious. It helps avoid surprises and the need for a quick strategy.

The dangers and risks will always be out there, you can't really change stupid behaviour of other people.
The best thing to do is to be very vigilant and aware. I have seen a lot of cyclists who pull out of side streets without looking, I have also seen cyclists who jump from a sidewalk ontu the road without looking. Never trust a pedestrian, a driver or a cyclist because there are a lot of mindless zombies out there. Get a mirror if you don't have one, at least you can see what's in the back before swerving to avoid something in front of you.

Peds, and especially peds with dogs, are stupid. Get a bell and use it often. Assume they can't hear you.

The unpredictability of people is amazing! This kind of thing happens to me all the time. I just assume all peds will wander right in front of me and keep my options open for an out.


On another note I'm thinking of getting a new couch, what color should I go with?

Taupe's always nice.

You were unprepared because you assume people act rationally and intelligently in their own interests. They don't, and they are also inattentive. In NYC, a lot of pedestrians navigate mostly with their ears, as if they will know danger is coming by the sound of it. But bikes don't make much sound, so they walk in front of us often. Or they see us but misunderestimate (with apologies to George W Bush) our speed.

Add this to the list of things to expect. It will serve you until something else new happens, and you'll add that to the list.

Things are less of a panic when you go slowly enough. Also, practice panic braking while riding in a straight line. It's much better to do that than to swerve into another lane. The person directly behind you has a responsibility not to hit you. People in other lanes don't have that.

In the future as bad as it may sound just slam on the brakes and try and not hit the person too hard, but never swerve into traffic. I heard from a fried of a friend who got ran down by a truck and eventually died, by trying to avoid hitting a person who stepped out into the bike lane not paying attention. A person can survive getting hit by a bike most of the time regardless of how fast your going, but you getting hit my a vehicle is a lot more likely to cause serious injuries.

Amen brother! I never swerve into the next lane and risk getting rear ended by a car. It happens quite often and good at shifting my weight back and squeezing the life out of my front brake. I also value my life over some random pedestrian so I'd prefer my bike crashing into them as opposed to having a car crash into my bike. I've actually hit a pedestrian in a scenario like this except I had slowed down enough (via emergency braking) that my front wheel grazed her instead of a full on crash. I dismounted and offered an apology only to be lectured about not being able to ride a bike properly on the street. Yes, the woman who blindly stepped into the bike lane (wasn't even at an intersection/pedestrian crossing so she was basically jaywalking) scolded me about not knowing proper street etiquette. The irony!

People jaywalk many billions of times each year without violating other people's right way. Please don't malign jaywalking simply because one person did not pay attention once.

And I value my life over any salmon (wrong-way) bicyclist, above all over a salmon who doesn't have any light. I've met several these past few days. There are a lot of pedestrian hazards, but since I never ride too fast, it's salmons that give me more serious dangers.

Get a brighter light. That's what I did.

Who said it was only once? I live in New York. I see jaywalking on an hourly basis, and a lot of times they cause near accidents, not just for cyclists but also for motorists.

sound of world's tiniest violin.

I guess i'm stupid then, stopping at every place where i cross a street & making dog sit and wait as i look.

- Andy

With vigilance, you'll see 99.9% of accidents coming. But every now and then, something totally unexpected will happen and there won't be any way you could anticipate it.

The old lady sounds like an older version of my ex-wife. I'm still amazed she hasn't been hit by a car after stepping out into traffic without looking for years.

Treat EVERY ***, car door, and pedestrian as if they are loaded!

Couple weeks ago I'm in my car, waiting for a traffic break to make a left turn. I saw a guy on a cruiser bike on the sidewalk, riding with no hands on the handlebars while holding his phone and apparently texting, and with headphones plugged in. He continue riding no-handed, down the handicap ramp and thru the intersection without every looking around.

A few days ago I saw a pedestrian step off the curb without every looking up from her phone.

Both Darwin award candidates, can only hope that they don't take out someone else with them.

Just remember, in an emergency... Pedstrians are softer than cars.

The point isn't that all peds are dumb but that some can be, so you have to expect that.

Yes, but now we are all aware that the unexpected will happen now and then, making it an expected unexpected event that we now should anticipate. Not looking forward to having to do that! THANKS A LOT El Cid!!

I met a guy who deliberately keeps his rear brake out of tune in such a way it always squeals loudly, since it's much louder than a bell. Brilliant.

You're missing the point. It's not so much the jaywalking itself, it's that the person in the wrong was arrogant and stupid enough to try to blame the person who did nothing wrong.