As both a regular driver and pedestrian on Aberdeen’s streets I have a vested interest in the use, courtesy, general misuse and down right rudeness that comes from both. Firstly as a driver I find that far too many motorists think that the road is just for them and that traffic lights are there to inform them to drive faster to get through them. Then there is the fact that on certain roundabouts the give way to the right seems not to exist and that during traffic hour a stream of cars will actually park around the roundabout stopping the flow of traffic, this seems only to happen in Aberdeen, and just because no one wants another car to get in front of them and put them further back in the queue. Crazy when you consider that our traffic jams are not jams as the traffic has a reasonable flow. I wish I could say that the part-time traffic lights work but they at times just add to the rush to the next bit and that inch closer to that bumper. And why oh why is there confusion as to who has right away at a crossroad – for those who don’t know, it’s the driver going straight ahead then the one going left, that goes for crossroads that are not completely straight on – like the one on Ellon Road.
My biggest problem with drivers, is that many seem to ignore pedestrian crossings, I stop at a crossing if there is another car before me and there is not a clear space behind them for me not to sit on that crossing, after all there will be someone wanting to cross the road and I’d rather they didn’t walk around my car – more on this later.
Now life on the pavement can be dangerous, for all the reasons mentioned above, drivers seem to see pedestrians as targets as well as a nuisance, now granted there are people out there that while walking put themselves at risk by crossing the road between cars and before reaching or using pedestrian crossings or simply run out on the road to get across before a car comes. Such decisions baffle me. As a pedestrian I generally hate drivers, this comes from the fact that they don’t think about what they’re doing only that they have to get somewhere and are on autopilot most of the time and if I didn’t pay attention on those pavements and road crossings I’d be dead. I can’t count how many times I have stood patiently at a crossing, in the rain, only to have a car speed up to get through that light before it changes and that green man appears or that a car moves on to the crossing lane and blocks my path those seconds before the lights change. I may be wrong but I’m not going to walk around a car, bus – they are big criminals on this count – trucks etc. and risk someone moving off and hurting, maiming or killing me. I will however get extremely annoyed and rant at the offender and they know that they’ve done wrong, because they sit there looking straight ahead pretending that you’re not there and they’ve done nothing wrong.
I have to say that pedestrians really get a raw deal from motorists, not only do they have to put up with bad behaviour and discourtesy on the roads, but the weather is also against them with it; how many times have you seen a car drive faster in the rain and splash those rivers of water on Aberdeen’s roads just because they have to get somewhere, big news the pedestrian is going somewhere too and we’d like to get there in one piece.
My biggest problem with drivers, is that many seem to ignore pedestrian crossings, I stop at a crossing if there is another car before me and there is not a clear space behind them for me not to sit on that crossing, after all there will be someone wanting to cross the road and I’d rather they didn’t walk around my car – more on this later.
Now life on the pavement can be dangerous, for all the reasons mentioned above, drivers seem to see pedestrians as targets as well as a nuisance, now granted there are people out there that while walking put themselves at risk by crossing the road between cars and before reaching or using pedestrian crossings or simply run out on the road to get across before a car comes. Such decisions baffle me. As a pedestrian I generally hate drivers, this comes from the fact that they don’t think about what they’re doing only that they have to get somewhere and are on autopilot most of the time and if I didn’t pay attention on those pavements and road crossings I’d be dead. I can’t count how many times I have stood patiently at a crossing, in the rain, only to have a car speed up to get through that light before it changes and that green man appears or that a car moves on to the crossing lane and blocks my path those seconds before the lights change. I may be wrong but I’m not going to walk around a car, bus – they are big criminals on this count – trucks etc. and risk someone moving off and hurting, maiming or killing me. I will however get extremely annoyed and rant at the offender and they know that they’ve done wrong, because they sit there looking straight ahead pretending that you’re not there and they’ve done nothing wrong.
I have to say that pedestrians really get a raw deal from motorists, not only do they have to put up with bad behaviour and discourtesy on the roads, but the weather is also against them with it; how many times have you seen a car drive faster in the rain and splash those rivers of water on Aberdeen’s roads just because they have to get somewhere, big news the pedestrian is going somewhere too and we’d like to get there in one piece.
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