Zebra/Pedestrian Crossing

antstar · Post by **antstar** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:05 pm

Can anyone tell me why the Zebra/Pedestrian Crossings laws are flaunted so much? I find it really strange and dangerous to disregard such an important road safety law. I have had pedestrians actually stare at me in shock when i stop for them. Does anyone have anything to add to this or have any close near miss experiences? I have decided not to let myself ease off here as it could result in trouble when i next go back to the UK when people just expect you to stop. Scary!

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Pete · Post by **Pete** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:30 pm

Pedestrian crossings = Russian roulette here.
Stand your ground and take the risk of being bowled over, or just play it safe and wait until there is a large enough distance for any oncoming cars to not be a threat.
Either way, crossing the road is generally an unpleasant experience and needs to be planned/thought out.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:36 pm

Antstar, I have had the exact same experiences as you. Even to the point where I have felt physically sick when I have stopped to let a gaggle of under-8s cross the zebra (so-called Finnish "safety-road" - my @r$3gh013

), then looked on in horror as 5 cars approaching from the other direction simply drive swiftly across the "safety crossing" from the other direction, narrowly missing the kids, who are now dithering in the middle of the road, wondering what is going on.

I love Finns, but their road sense is rather, well, erm, backward? selfish? well I just don't know...

peteh · Post by **peteh** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:55 pm

I always try and stop. I like it when it makes someone behind me have to stop too.

I also like it when I can feel their eyes burning through my back window.

Then I wait very patiently until those folks have finally crossed safety onto the other side

Only then do I slowing pull away.

Its even better when just when they think you are going to pull off again, you wait just a little more for the mummu to start crossing.

aniorek · Post by **aniorek** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:32 pm

antstar wrote:Can anyone tell me why the Zebra/Pedestrian Crossings laws are flaunted so much? I find it really strange and dangerous to disregard such an important road safety law. I have had pedestrians actually stare at me in shock when i stop for them. Does anyone have anything to add to this or have any close near miss experiences? I have decided not to let myself ease off here as it could result in trouble when i next go back to the UK when people just expect you to stop. Scary!

Usually people do stop here, that's my experience. But then again, I come from Poland, so if you wanna see Russian roulette on pedestrian crossings, that's the country to go.

Anyway, one thing I hate here is that people don't stop even if I am in the middle of the crossing already! As a kid I had an accident caused by this kind of behaviour, so it always makes me angry like hell.

antstar · Post by **antstar** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:37 pm

I had a similar happen to me on the way home Karhunkoski, i let this small girl cross and when i looked back she had to wait in the middle "island" as no-one on the otherside were stopping. So i had put her in a position of danger, as she might try her luck and run across the icy road. so what do you do? maybe their shoud be a clamp down by the police. when i run for Finnish parliment that will be in my agenda! Who is gonna vote for me?

raamv · Post by **raamv** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:49 am

Karhunkoski wrote: I love Finns, but their road sense is rather, well, erm, backward? selfish? well I just don't know...

errr Like the Boondocks!! eh!!

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:44 am

raamv wrote:
Karhunkoski wrote: I love Finns, but their road sense is rather, well, erm, backward? selfish? well I just don't know...
errr Like the Boondocks!! eh!!

Ho ho ho!

Looking at the replies in this thread, this characteristic appears to be prevalent in Helsinki too.

mrshourula · Post by **mrshourula** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:32 am

What,if any,role doesl cell phone usage play. It is a big problem is US and state governments are finally passing laws-but slowly.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:39 am

mrshourula wrote:What,if any,role doesl cell phone usage play. It is a big problem is US and state governments are finally passing laws-but slowly.

Little to none, it is more of an attitude problem.
Drivers feel that they have right of way and will simply keep going through the crossing, even if you happened to be there first.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:15 am

raamv wrote:
Karhunkoski wrote: I love Finns, but their road sense is rather, well, erm, backward? selfish? well I just don't know...
errr Like the Boondocks!! eh!!

You know raamv, I really think you should drop the use of this word when you talk about the rest of Finland. I see you have the Indian flag in your avatar, are you Indian? It would be quite ironic for someone from India, a country where most people don't have a proper toilet, a country where something like half a million kids (I don't remember the exact figure, probably nobody knows), dies each year from ripuli (mostly attributable to poor hygiene/sanitation), to arrive in Finland and start telling millions of Finns that they live "in the boondocks".

I know a few Finns up here who read this forum(they say it's amusing). So take a moment to think about the impression you are giving them. Do you think you're doing anything for immigrant relations?

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:21 am

Perhaps this is the boondocks you visualise?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7240931.stm

catfish78 · Post by **catfish78** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:07 am

Back to the subject:

I find that when I am pushing the stroller (most of my time) everyone stops for me. Hell I even had a bus stop for me. So the drivers here have respect for that. Even when I am solo a fair amount of people stop for me and let me cross. Sometimes I do the sadistic thing and just walk out in traffic

. Nothing like playing chicken with a 10 ton bus.

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:17 am

Pete wrote:
mrshourula wrote:What,if any,role doesl cell phone usage play. It is a big problem is US and state governments are finally passing laws-but slowly.
Little to none, it is more of an attitude problem.
Drivers feel that they have right of way and will simply keep going through the crossing, even if you happened to be there first.

I agree with the second bit, that many drivers will go through a crossing even when there is someone in the middle, however, I have seen, numerous times drivers using mobiles going through a crossing, phone obscuring one side of their face, eyes fixed straight ahead, oblivious to the fact that there were pedestrians crossing the road.

About stopping for pedestrians and annoying other drivers. A couple of months ago, I slowed to let a pedestrian ahead cross the road when I was in the left lane of a dual carriageway approaching a roundabout. The driver behind me was presumably in a bit of a hurry as he undertook, drew level with me screamed and shook his hands, then sped off, at way over the limit.

IMNSHO there are a lot of dangerous drivers here, and bugger all traffic Police. Low traffic volume and population density means they get away with more mistakes than they would in busier places.

simon · Post by **simon** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:56 am

I just put it down to most of the Finns become ignorant to the fellow road users when they get behind the wheel of a car, both male and female.

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