On my ride last night I had a strange encounter with a pedestrion. I was going down a hill, not to fast 20mph+/-, and there was a barefoot, middle aged, woman standing along the side of the road. This road has no shoulder, nor sidewalks. I'm just to the right of the right tire track. I see the woman ahead, and she sees me. As I approach I move slightly left towards the center of the road. As I get closer still she takes a step into the road. This cause my heart to jump a bit as I became aware that she might just step in front of me for some reason, and there was little time left for me to react. Thankfully she didn't. It was the oddest thing that has happened to me in a long time.
She seemed to be a bit, off. What ever isues she has, I wish her well.

A uncertain percentage of the population has behavior problems. I see it every day.

Pets, wild animals, children and pedestrians are unpredictable. Glad you didn't have an accident.

I just finished reading a book by Temple Grandin, a high functioning autistic woman who is also a collage professor. Autistic people have difficulty processing all sorts of input from touch, light, auditory and all the ways the brain receives input and attempts to deal with reality. What was a surprise to me is the number of people so affected in major or minor ways. For example, some autistic people don't here hard consonants such as the letters c, p or b and therefore miss much of what is spoken and may thus appear stupid or unable to engage with others. So many steps have to go right in producing a normal person it is sort of surprising so many are normal or near normal.

I read somewhere that that there are some who think Dr. Livingston of "Dr Livingston I presume" fame had Asperger Syndrome.

It would be difficult to define 'normal' since even those that are thought to be 'normal' are irrational at times.

She probably thought the same of you.

Wouldn't it have been prudent to ask if she needed help? The next vehicle might have been a truck.

I thought of the same thing. Her being barefoot makes me wonder if she was a victim of an assault who escaped and needed help.

+1

My thought was mental illness. In any case, she probably needed help. A 911 call if nothing else.

Barefoot, staggering - assault by liquor would be my first guess. Just call me cynical.

Alcohol or some other drug. Yes, you are cynical, but I had the same thought.

That may have been the case. I would still have stopped and asked if she needed help.

She was a zombie. You're lucky to be alive.

I came up on a ped from behind today. He looked back and saw me comming for a good distance away, but he just kept walking in the middle of the road. He started to move to the right and I started heading to the left--then he starts heading to the left, I slow, he stops, and I say "Pick a side!"

(Quote barefoot, staggering - assault by liquor would be my first guess. Just call me cynical. Quote)

Or, at least call the police. Medical assistance might have been needed. Or, given a case of alcohol or drug use then the police helping her "pay consequences" could help her in the both the short term and long term.

There is a really good chance that even though she was looking at you, she may not have noticed you because she wasn't looking for a bike. For motorcycles, an oncoming car turning left is the most common accident for the same reason.

Go back to that road at night and see if she shows up again. Then pick whatever post you like and react accordingly.

Probably zonked out on something, maybe just side effects from a prescribed drug. Either that or Resurrection Mary has finally gotten older and moved away from Chicago.

The callousness shown by some on this thread makes me uneasy. The woman was obviously exposing herself to danger, was not acting normally, so probably needed help. Commonsense would surely indicate "Stop and ask if she needed help," or "Call 911." So what if she was on drugs or alcohol? Did he deserve to die by being hit by a vehicle? Give me a break! On second thoughts, in a country where around 90 people per day are killed by gunshots and a similar number in vehicular accidents, does one more really matter? Now MY cynicism is showing.

Helpful yes. Prudent, not so sure. I was once chase by a "homeless" man that I stopped to ask if he needed help (it was a very hot day and he looked a bit out of it). If I was the OP I would have called 911 as soon as possible and reported the woman.

OP, I am glad that you are OK. I hope the woman is OK as well.

Several years back, I was out riding (or maybe walking, I forget). At one of the bus stops, a man was laying on the grass, wearing shorts with no shoes or shirt, kind of writhing around. A woman was sitting there on the bench. I figured they might be together, and asked the woman if the man was okay, she gave some sort of noncommittal response. So I went on up to a convenience store and called 911. I came back through a few minutes later and both man and woman were being loaded into a squad car. So I was trying to do them a favor in case they needed help and just got them arrested instead. Oops. Don't think I did them any favors there.

In the OP's case, I don't think it's unreasonable to stop and check, but also not unreasonable to keep on riding. If people feel like they need to check up on and report people acting oddly, they should cruise downtown Dallas a while and have a field day at it.

911 is an emergency number. There was no emergency. Why not call the non emergency number?

You never know what will help people in the long run. Being arrested can be a wake-up call that changes your life!