Advanced Driving Hub

A lot of cyclists and pedestrians assume other road users are responsible for their safety as it is.

Had to slow and move towards the centreline in a 30 limit the other day because a pedestrian on the nearside pavement, wearing headphones, was overtaking another bunch occupying most of the pavement. He stepped into the road. It would have been much more of a scare if I'd not twigged ahead of time.

For smug "we're advanced drivers" like ourselves, the new legislation isn't much of a change. It's the other drivers who won't know, won't care, or won't bother about the new changes.

dvenman wrote:For smug "we're advanced drivers" like ourselves, the new legislation isn't much of a change. It's the other drivers who won't know, won't care, or won't bother about the new changes.

The problem isn't for the drivers, it's for the pedestrians/cyclists who get squashed while asserting their rights. Not much use being right but dead.

exportmanuk wrote:I have been in small German towns late at night with hardly a car on the road and the locals still wont cross the road until there is a green man illuminated for them to cross.

I would not call that "educated". That, to me, is simply blind obedience.

Strangely Brown wrote:

exportmanuk wrote:I have been in small German towns late at night with hardly a car on the road and the locals still wont cross the road until there is a green man illuminated for them to cross.

I would not call that "educated". That, to me, is simply blind obedience.

Yes I would agree with you but they are much more disciplined in their road use from a very early age.

The trade-off between flexibility and certainty. The Germans tend towards certainty, the British flexibility. The latter probably favours those more focused on their driving, the former on those more focused on getting from A to B.

exportmanuk wrote:......I have been in small German towns late at night with hardly a car on the road and the locals still wont cross the road until there is a green man illuminated for them to cross. Here people walk in to the road without looking at all at any time of day or night.

Takes me back to the time I was pottering around Germany with the second ex-wife. We stopped to admire the architecture in a town. A crossing light was red, but there was nothing coming . We crossed. Cue some comments from the locals about "verboten" or something.
But I think it's over here now - I had a pupil who when questioned on Pelican/Puffin crossings said she was taught not to cross without activating the electronics to stop the traffic. Even if there wasn't any traffic. Pointless risk averse behaviour. We'd have never discovered stuff with this attitude.

Regarding the proposed rule change - drivers have no concept of HC 170 now. I walk most days and often get people driving at me crossing roads. I can't wait to try this "step off and hope" option.

I've been loudly 'tut-tutted' when crossing a road in Germany at traffic lights, where the traffic lights had changed to red and traffic had stopped, but the pedestrian light had not yet turned green.

“Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind.”
-General Douglas MacArthur

“If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”
-Katharine Hepburn

“Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.”
– Douglas Bader

I have a feeling that in Germany (and some other places) it is actually illegal to cross on the red, not just a matter of rules or social behaviour.

Strangely Brown wrote:
“Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.”
– Douglas Bader

And look what happened when he broke the rules

[Unpublished accounts suggested that, when his case came in front of the military tribunal, he was advised that he didn't have a leg to stand on ]