Pedestrian Crossings - Pedestrian beware

Look pedestrians are fair game in Canberra. People just should NOT walk anwhere. The traffic lights are all sequenced incorrectly and in my view are for decoration. If you want to walk across a road, take a deep breath and move as fast as your legs will move you.

I am extremely conscious of pedestrians and always slow down, check, wave people through, etc. (I also leave room for people to merge into my lane in front of me from roads on my left – no saint I promise but I like it when people smile at me.) Have to say that pedestrians in Canberra are just about the worst I’ve ever encountered, especially in and around the city. Traffic lights seem to be used only as a gauge of wether you should :Green – amble across at your leisure, those cars waiting to turn left can wait for the lights to go through a full cycle again, I don’t hurry for anyone; Amber – power walk across six lanes and a huge median strip so all the car drivers can see how purposeful you are and acknowledge you WILL keep walking because you have places to be; Red – ensure your glare is turned up to full power in case any idiot thinks that just because he has a green light and yours is on red he has some sort of right to actually proceed in your general direction as you proceed to cross against the lights insanely as well as illegally.

peterh, you should set up a video camera and post the results of these near misses on youtube… if it’s as serious as you say, then something needs to be done…

Foot traffic is minimal
Which is probably why they are crossings and not lights. No foot traffic = no need to stop.

it’s safe enough to cross with the strip in the middle
I respectfully disagree. Sometimes it’s not safe to cross at all, crossing included. Especially between 4.30 and 5.30pm when it’s really busy, and is a bit like a dragway towards the roundabout…… Crossing the road to get to the gym is a risk in itself sometimes.

barking toad said :

There shouldn’t be pedestrian crossings on Townshend Street.

Foot traffic is minimal and it’s safe enough to cross with the strip in the middle.

try doing that with a pram or stroller – very interesting to watch. lady today almost got cleaned up by:

a) bus
b) car
c) truck
d) car who had stopped too quickly at the pedestrian crossing – slid a bit.

There shouldn’t be pedestrian crossings on Townshend Street.

Foot traffic is minimal and it’s safe enough to cross with the strip in the middle.

imarty said :

Whilst we’re on the topic of pedestrian crossings, can any one explain why there are 3 crossings within 100 metres of each other on Corinna st right near the Southern Cross Club and Dick Smith???

Just to match the triple mounds near the Maccas in Manuka. And the one crossing every 20m policy on Bunda Street.

This is a topic dear to my heart (and right hip). Aged 11, I was crossing a zebra crossing when a Range Rover with ball bars hit me, breaking my pelvis and knocking me unconcious. I spent three weeks in hospital and two weeks in traction. I’ve had a number of until now minor side effects for most of my life, but I suspect it’s going to start increasing exponentially from here on in; the dull pain I used to get down one side of my body used to come and go. Now it doesn’t go.

Mercifully there are now traffic lights at that crossing (on Antil Street opposite Dickson Library), however, I was passing there a couple of weeks ago and someone aged not much older than I was at the time of the accident chose to dart out in the dark when I had the green light and I very nearly collected them.

At zebra crossings, I’m eternally vigilant as a pedestrian and a motorist, but in contrast to my own experience, I do wish pedestrians would on the whole be more assertive and cross when they can and not stand waiting for motorists to slow almost to a stop before giving them a wave and then heading across the crossing.

I agree that it’s a 50/50 call and to blindly head across could be inviting a bounce off the bonnet.

Kudos to whoever it was that does the courtesy wave through at busy crossings; I do the same in the city around the Canberra Centre.

As a cyclist, there’s a neat and almost seamless move you can do when approaching a crossing which is to swing one leg up and over the bar while you’re still moving, walk the bike across the crossing, and then swing back up and keep going. Anyone who cruises straight across when there’s traffic about is to be asking for the hardcopy of the publication referred to above to be aimed fairly and squarely at their bonce.

Whilst we’re on the topic of pedestrian crossings, can any one explain why there are 3 crossings within 100 metres of each other on Corinna st right near the Southern Cross Club and Dick Smith???

I think that was designed by the same person who designed for only one lane each way for the GDE.

imarty said :

Whilst we’re on the topic of pedestrian crossings, can any one explain why there are 3 crossings within 100 metres of each other on Corinna st right near the Southern Cross Club and Dick Smith???

because the act government can have 3 crossings within 100m of each other.

(and yet, no dragway)

Whilst we’re on the topic of pedestrian crossings, can any one explain why there are 3 crossings within 100 metres of each other on Corinna st right near the Southern Cross Club and Dick Smith???

caf said :

*technically* they didn’t give way if the pedestrian was either on the crossing or within 2 metres of either side of it (this applies regardless of whether the pedestrian looks like they’re going to cross or not).

Twas just a joke.

However apparently I don’t give way properly. Oops.

The worst crossing is the one near the University in Belco. At night, its damn near impossible to see people crossing the road. I wouldn’t mind betting a large sum of money that someone has been killed there. I always wait for pedestrians if they are waiting to cross the road. Its a shitty mentality that drivers don’t they they need to stop unless the pedestrian actually forces themselves to walk in front of the car. Its so bad that I have had several pedestrians give a thank you wave when I stop to let them cross the road at a crossing in disbelief.

*technically* they didn’t give way if the pedestrian was either on the crossing or within 2 metres of either side of it (this applies regardless of whether the pedestrian looks like they’re going to cross or not).

astrojax said :

when training to get a licence one is instructed to always slow down and look for pedestrians

Don’t know about ACT, but in NSW you will fail your P1 test if you don’t slow down and cover the brake pedal, just in case someone runs out onto a crossing from nowhere. This is second nature to me.

However the idiots who cross the road a) where there is no crossing, b) at night and c) right in front of you when you’re turning a corner and were looking to make sure that there was no oncoming traffic on the right almost deserve to get hit.

Nearly hit some young kid last night, couldn’t have been a day over 14. Just about to accelerate out of a left turn and all of a sudden this young smegger was there, running in front of my car. No sense of self preservation in today’s youth…

The Brad said :

I know the pedestrian crossings on Townshend St quite well, and drivers seem to be notoriously zippy on that street. I’d like to draw a parallel with the number auto-servicing establishments in that area, and employees with powerful engines.

I think that you will find, since the Police motorcyclist turned up in phillip, I believe that it is his new beat, that the number of auto servicing employees doing this have diminished. I was informed that he visited a few to let them know that he would be watching them.

unfortunately, he isn’t here at 4.00pm and onwards, and the rain yesterday is only a catalyst for the worst examples of driving I have ever seen, particularly when I have been in the middle of the crossing – the signpost won’t save me…..

The Brad said :

If someone does not heed the give way to pedestrians, and passes too closely, I’ve found a whack on their boot sometimes makes them slow down and check to see if they hit me. Hopefully, this teaches them to back off a bit next time.

Well technically they did give way, they just timed it really well…

The Brad said :

If someone does not heed the give way to pedestrians, and passes too closely, I’ve found a whack on their boot sometimes makes them slow down and check to see if they hit me. Hopefully, this teaches them to back off a bit next time.

I’m not familiar with the Townshend Street corssings myself, but at some of the ones around the Canberra Centre it’s nigh on impossible to get through them without being a little bit creative. If I’m walking through some of those and there’s a posisble gap for the car I’ll often wave them through. Sucks though when you try to do the right thing to let a car through and some bone/airhead just walks straight past you making the car wait even longer, haha.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

I generally throttle off and have a good look – one of my fears is hitting a pedestrian when driving.

Same. And the crossing in between the High Court and Environment is especially tricky on the drive home from work at this time of year as it is so poorly lit. The other one I regularly drive past is the one near the cop shop on London Circuit. With cars parked close by it can often be difficult to see people approaching said crossing. Therefore I’ll always do my best to check as best I can before rumbling on through.

At crossings I’m more than happy to wait my time for pedestrians, but the dumb cyclists and pedestrians that walk through that Hobart Place car park without a care in the world must have a death wish. Even worse is when some fkers see you coming but still walk out in front of you.

I do make it a habit of looking to make sure no one is at the crossing. But, as a pedestrian, I can’t believe the amount of people who just walk out into the street believing the car will stop for them. If I come to a cross walk, and there are cars coming, I stop and wait until I can see the cars slowing down.

I think it’s a 50/50 thing. Both cars and peds should be responsible.

I know the pedestrian crossings on Townshend St quite well, and drivers seem to be notoriously zippy on that street. I’d like to draw a parallel with the number auto-servicing establishments in that area, and employees with powerful engines.
The other problem there is people who park, legally, just before the crossing, making it difficult to see a pedestrian who steps out without notice.

If someone does not heed the give way to pedestrians, and passes too closely, I’ve found a whack on their boot sometimes makes them slow down and check to see if they hit me. Hopefully, this teaches them to back off a bit next time.

I generally throttle off and have a good look – one of my fears is hitting a pedestrian when driving.

ACT Road rules:
http://www.tams.act.gov.au/move/driver_licence/Road_Rules_Handbook

Pedestrians on pedestrian crossings always have right of way.
Bicycle riders who fail to dismount across a pedestrian crossing are fair game…

I always make a point of looking for pedestrians, instead of just glancing.

This is especially true around Woden Plaza when they pop out off the footpaths very quickly.

If a mounted bicycle rider sees me, and we make eye contact, I usually drive through. If there’s any doubt that he’s going to stop, then I’ll give way. Cyclists who dismount get the full courtesy accorded to pedestrians.

Astrojax, no it doesn’t make you strange.

I slow down for crossings, and watch for cyclists who don’t realise (or don’t care) that they’re supposed to get off and walk their bikes across.

No signs = 50km/h is correct.

what is the speed limit down Townshend street anyway? (there aren’t any signs)

so, that would make it a suburban street and so 50kph, then?

when training to get a licence one is instructed to always slow down and look for pedestrians, who have right of way anyway, which is a reason they are prominently signposted… or has driving become an even more blinkered pursuit these days? i even slow down and watch further afield for cyclists at crossings i know to be frequented thus. does this make me strange?