Incredibly Stupid & Criminal Pedestrian (Long)

Sorry that this is such a long winded story, but I wanted to give all
the details I could in the hopes that someone else with more experience
in these matters can comment. I also hope not too many other people
have had the experience that I just had this afternoon while driving
down a two lane, busy semi-rural highway, because if they had, they
might, (like me) consider not driving for a good long while, if ever
again. If anyone has had a similar experience to what I'm about to
relate, I really would like to hear about it, because I'm still in
enough shock to think that this can't possibly have happened to anyone
else, or at least not very often.

Coming back home along said highway, in good daylight around 7:30 pm,
in Eastern Canada (Ontario), driving the limit of 80 km in 5th gear
(driving a standard shift/older Toyotoa Coralla & in a common gear to
drive in to save on gas mileage on long highways) I noted some traffic
behind me, though much less in the incoming lane. I also noted a black
sports car coming up behind me, probably going a bit faster than me,
but still quite a good distance away. I also noted 2 people standing,
up way ahead, at the beginning of a driveway to a house on my right on
the side of the highway.

Last time I looked, they were still standing in the driveway and
talking. I looked back straight ahead at the road and the next thing I
see, split seconds later, is one of the people who was talking at the
side of the road/driveway entrance, starts sauntering, and I mean
REALLY, REALLY walking slowly across the highway with his head turned
completely to one side, not once turning to look at the oncoming
traffic, which would be ME and the others behind me coming right at him
at 80 km.

I've never encountered such a situation, and can't image now, even if
it was just repeated, how I would ever prepare for this and guarantee a
good outcome. All I could do, with no training, but close to 8 years of
driving experience, and having seconds to react, was slam my foot on
the clutch and the other foot on the brake and steer straight ahead,
straight at him. (I'm not sure why I steered straight ahead- perhaps
it's some kind of reflex?) I didn't even have time to swerve into the
oncoming lane (not that that would have been a good option either) or
even use the horn, it was that quick.

I must have left screeching treads marks for a good 100 feet, and even
so, he was moving SO slowly, still with his head turned the other way,
that by the time he reached the center of the road right in front of
me, I was still going around 50 km and he just clipped his left hip on
my front left bumper, spun around, and only then looked at me for a
second before I had completely stopped the car no more than 5 feet past
him. Incredibly, he then ran across the other lane to narrowly avoid
the now oncoming traffic (which he supposedly had been looking at when
his head was turned to me.)

Meanwhile, the black sports car which had been coming up behind me, and
which I had forgotten in my terror and concern with braking in time for
the pedestrian, had seen what was coming up at the last second as well,
and in order to avoid rear ending me, had started to brake quite a few
feet away, as I had done with the pedestrian. Only he didn't have as
much space as I did, so he had to swerve to the right into a ditch at
the last minute to avoid my car, which was finally stopped to a
screeching halt in the middle of the road, seconds after the pedestrian
passed by.

All this took place in split seconds, but it could have been at least a
3 person fatality, or even more, if all the other cars in both lanes
hadn't eventually stopped or slowed down. They did, no doubt, having
seen what was happening from enough distance away.

While I was still in shock, I only knew that I had to get off the road
right away and get out of the way, so I quickly pulled over and then
screamed something feeble out the window at this incredibly stupid and
criminal pedestrian, who BTW, also didn't even glance back at me as he
ran away.

The man in the black car in the ditch was not in as much shock as me,
but so furious that he kicked the driver door open and ran screaming
across the road after the pedestrian. I don't know if he caught him,
because, again, I was in such a daze, and feeling sick to my stomach,
that after I gulped down some water, I put the car in gear and slowly
pulled back into traffic.

Upon reflection, and discussing this with the relative who had taught
me the basics of driving a stick shift, I asked him what else I might
have done in this surreal situation to have possibly improved the
outcome (though it was amazingly, a relatively good outcome, afterall-
espc. for the pedestrian).

I wondered if I should have tried to gear down, from say, 5th to 3rd or
2nd. Or use the handbrake. Or swerve- though I think I didn't want to
swerve into the incoming lane because I probably thought the odds might
be that I could have hit the pedestrian as he crossed in front to the
left of me.

Anyway, I was told that yes, gearing down would have helped, but he
guessed that I probably didn't even have enough time to do this, espc.
if I didn't have time to hit the horn. Still, I can't even remember if
I might have reflexively put in the clutch and popped the shift into
neutral, as I always do when coming to a stop within the city/normal
city driving. Probably not a good habit, and my relative told me that
if I had truly done this in this situation, that it would indeed have
not aided my stopping, and possibly effected the steering. However,
since I steered straight ahead and I'm pretty sure that the car
shuddered upon suddenly stopping, it was probably still in 5th gear
when I took my trembling foot off the clutch/came to a final stop.

Sure the weather was hot, probably around 32 C today, but we've had
much hotter weather within past weeks, so that can't be the only
factor. One person I related this incident to thought that the guy
might have been on drugs or drunk, but from the way he was dressed
(possibly a bike helmet, and for sure, bike pants and shirt as I saw
him in those split seconds talking with his friend), he didn't seem out
of it until he walked right in front of me/across my lane without
looking. If he had seemed drunk before, I would have noticed it and
probably started some preventative action much sooner.

Bottom line, unless the guy in the black car who ran after him managed
to catch this creep and press charges, I have no doubt that this moron
pedestrian will get someone else killed some time in the future. People
like that never change, espc. when they are able to do something that
idiotic. No one, not even a little kid would cross a busy highway like
this with traffic thundering down the road without at least looking
briefly, or even running across.

That this guy literally sauntered across a busy highway without
looking, and got nothing more than a bruise on his left hip and kept
right on going without looking back speaks of a very callous
individual, and one who couldn't care less about the tragedies he
nearly caused (or will cause in the future).

I don't know. And here I thought the other drivers on the road were the
main threat to life and limb. I've seen some really bad driving, but
never anything as incredulously stupid and criminal as what this
pedestrian did, espc. in terms of the many lives that could have been
lost this afternoon.

bosk wrote:

> I wondered if I should have tried to gear down, from say, 5th to 3rd or
> 2nd. Or use the handbrake. Or swerve- though I think I didn't want to
> swerve into the incoming lane because I probably thought the odds might
> be that I could have hit the pedestrian as he crossed in front to the
> left of me.

In panic braking it's best to do just as you did and push the clutch in.
Most modern brakes are calibrated to work best with the engine
completely out of the loop; in fact some ABS controls will command the
auto. trans to be in neutral in a panic stop. Swerving would have
likely thrown you into a spin unless you let off the brakes at the
moment you swerved.

You did seem to imply that you were fully locked up however; if you
don't have ABS then threshold braking is a good skill to acquire
although I can certainly understand in a situation without a lot of time
to think not being able to do it without lots of practice.

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
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Nate Nagel wrote:
>
> bosk wrote:
>
> > I wondered if I should have tried to gear down, from say, 5th to 3rd or
> > 2nd. Or use the handbrake. Or swerve- though I think I didn't want to
> > swerve into the incoming lane because I probably thought the odds might
> > be that I could have hit the pedestrian as he crossed in front to the
> > left of me.
>
> In panic braking it's best to do just as you did and push the clutch in.
> Most modern brakes are calibrated to work best with the engine
> completely out of the loop; in fact some ABS controls will command the
> auto. trans to be in neutral in a panic stop. Swerving would have
> likely thrown you into a spin unless you let off the brakes at the
> moment you swerved.
>
> You did seem to imply that you were fully locked up however; if you
> don't have ABS then threshold braking is a good skill to acquire
> although I can certainly understand in a situation without a lot of time
> to think not being able to do it without lots of practice.

When my mom was still driving, I told her that if an animal ever darted out in
front of the car she should try to brake but go straight ahead, not try to
avoid the animal. Better to hit it than spin or roll or smash into another
car. She seemed surprised, but on reflection thought that that was the proper
thing to do.

I would guess that would go for humans too.

It would be nice to think that the guy in the black car caught the jerk, beat
the **** out of him and got away clean.

--
Cheers,
Bev
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>
Subscribe today to "Fire in the Hole - the Quarterly Journal
for Incinerator Toilet Enthusiasts" -- Andrew

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 21:47:38 -0700, The Real Bev
> wrote:

>When my mom was still driving, I told her that if an animal ever darted out in
>front of the car she should try to brake but go straight ahead, not try to
>avoid the animal. Better to hit it than spin or roll or smash into another
>car. She seemed surprised, but on reflection thought that that was the proper
>thing to do.
>
>I would guess that would go for humans too.

I would agree with this.

Anyone stupid enough to walk out in front of oncoming traffic deserves
a Darwin Award - and there isn't a cop on the planet who will ticket
you for it (as long as the pedestrian is not in a crosswalk, of
course).

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 22:08:42 -0700, Scott en Aztlán
> was understood to have stated the
following:

>there isn't a cop on the planet who will ticket
>you for it (as long as the pedestrian is not in a crosswalk, of
>course).

That's a shame; pedestrians seem to congregate near crosswalks, and
I've already set my blind up near one. :-D


--

The last song I started on my PC was: Disturbed - Awaken - Believe
K:\Audio\Disturbed\Believe\03-Awaken.mp3
This is track 13 of 457 in the current playlist.

"Scott en Aztlán" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 21:47:38 -0700, The Real Bev
> > wrote:
>
>>When my mom was still driving, I told her that if an animal ever darted
>>out in
>>front of the car she should try to brake but go straight ahead, not try to
>>avoid the animal. Better to hit it than spin or roll or smash into
>>another
>>car. She seemed surprised, but on reflection thought that that was the
>>proper
>>thing to do.
>>
>>I would guess that would go for humans too.
>
> I would agree with this.
>
> Anyone stupid enough to walk out in front of oncoming traffic deserves
> a Darwin Award - and there isn't a cop on the planet who will ticket
> you for it (as long as the pedestrian is not in a crosswalk, of
> course).

With a speed limit of 80 kh, any crosswalk would be clearly marked with
white paint and flashing yellow diamond beacons. This Darwin Award
Honorable Mention won't do it again--his hip is hurting like muhfuggah as we
speak.

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> Anyone stupid enough to walk out in front of oncoming traffic deserves
> a Darwin Award - and there isn't a cop on the planet who will ticket
> you for it (as long as the pedestrian is not in a crosswalk, of
> course).

If only this were true. Remember the WTO protesters?

On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 14:26:39 -0700, John David Galt
> wrote:

>Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>> Anyone stupid enough to walk out in front of oncoming traffic deserves
>> a Darwin Award - and there isn't a cop on the planet who will ticket
>> you for it (as long as the pedestrian is not in a crosswalk, of
>> course).
>
>If only this were true.

It was true the time I hit a pedestrian. He was crossing the street in
mid-block and walked right out in front of my car; I braked, but he
was too close, and he was knocked to the ground. I was not cited.

The Real Bev wrote:
> When my mom was still driving, I told her that if an animal ever darted out in
> front of the car she should try to brake but go straight ahead, not try to
> avoid the animal. Better to hit it than spin or roll or smash into another
> car. She seemed surprised, but on reflection thought that that was the proper
> thing to do.
>
> I would guess that would go for humans too.

For a dog or cat, yes. But for a deer, cow, or any other animal tall enough
that it's likely to go up on your hood and hit the windshield, I'd rather
swerve and take my chances on spinning out. A side impact with a deer will
probably leave me uninjured and the car drivable -- head-on probably won't.

Most humans are big enough to belong in that second category too, although
I'd hesitate to swerve to the right; they may run that way if they figure
out the problem at the last second. That's less likely with a deer or cow.

John David Galt wrote:
>
> The Real Bev wrote:
> > When my mom was still driving, I told her that if an animal ever darted out in
> > front of the car she should try to brake but go straight ahead, not try to
> > avoid the animal. Better to hit it than spin or roll or smash into another
> > car. She seemed surprised, but on reflection thought that that was the proper
> > thing to do.
> >
> > I would guess that would go for humans too.
>
> For a dog or cat, yes. But for a deer, cow, or any other animal tall enough
> that it's likely to go up on your hood and hit the windshield, I'd rather
> swerve and take my chances on spinning out. A side impact with a deer will
> probably leave me uninjured and the car drivable -- head-on probably won't.
>
> Most humans are big enough to belong in that second category too, although
> I'd hesitate to swerve to the right; they may run that way if they figure
> out the problem at the last second. That's less likely with a deer or cow.

What about at freeway speeds with the usual freeway traffic and YOUR number
comes up? I guess we'd all be doomed then and it probably wouldn't matter.
We don't have much livestock, but every once in a while a dog makes it up onto
the freeway...

--
Cheers, Bev
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
It's cheaper." -- Quentin Crisp 1908 - 1999