I make eye contact and walk at a normal pace. In Spain people get mad when cars drive down city streets. They glare daggers at you while they clear the street begrudgingly. We need that energy in the United States. Cars should know that they are second class citizens.
In parking lots, I usually don’t even make eye contact. I mean I keep the cars in the corner of my vision so I don’t get killed, but it’s their job to not hit me, I’m not going to duck and dodge around them.
I do this particularly in parking lots because those drivers are 2 minutes from becoming pedestrians themselves, so it seems fitting.
My move is a vague wave in the car’s direction as I start crossing. It’s a mix between “I know who you are and I’m fine with it” and “you shall not pass”.
I don’t even particularly like it, but it’s something I saw my dad doing when I was a kid and now it just… comes out. Socialization is weird.
Same. It’s a half “nice of you” and half “I’m going now and I’m making that clear” mostly so I don’t get run over.
So weird though. Two humans walking at the same intersection will usually both try to find a suitable way around one another. Of course there are exceptions, but generally, pretty even and respectful encounter.
Throw one of those humans behind the wheel of a car and a TON of them behave completely different. As if the people walking don’t deserve the space in the world. Or that they don’t have the right to be “in the way.”
I try very hard to be a courteous driver and pedestrian, but just can’t believe how many greedy, selfish drivers there are. Eye opening if you walk around a lot.
Well, yeah, two humans at the same intersection can sidestep, move at snail’s pace and weigh roughly as much as a small donkey or a large dog.
Give one of those apes a literal ton of metal hurling itself at cheetah speeds at the slightest provocation and able only to sort of slightly alter its trajectory in a bit of a parabola and the power dynamics understandably shift a bit.
Here’s a fun note, I’m from a place where pedestrian crossings are seen as a mild invitation to slow down, so I tend to wait to see the car fully stopped before I do the magic handwave thing and cross. When I moved to a different country where stopping is seen as mandatory as long as there is anybody waiting to cross I got a TON of angry gestures hurled at me for doing that because drivers thought I was wasting their time by crossing too slowly.
Still can’t bring myself to jump in front of the self-propelled metal missile coming my way at lethal speeds without at least seeing some slowing down, though.
The difference is still there for many drivers when at a complete standstill.
I’ve been in the same situation. Amazing how different pedestrian right of way can be, even in cities less than 100 miles apart. But countries are another story. Sweden vs Vietnam is an interesting transition, although Vietnam is still relatively pedestrian friendly in the sense that they’ll try to avoid you and don’t get angry because you exist. In some parts of Mexico, it literally feels like the drivers want to run you over, even if you blatantly have the right of way.
Positive 😄 i went to marbella for a medical thing and stayed in the old town, and when the hospital sent a car to pick me up, people were very annoyed every time.
I make eye contact and walk at a normal pace. In Spain people get mad when cars drive down city streets. They glare daggers at you while they clear the street begrudgingly. We need that energy in the United States. Cars should know that they are second class citizens.
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In parking lots, I usually don’t even make eye contact. I mean I keep the cars in the corner of my vision so I don’t get killed, but it’s their job to not hit me, I’m not going to duck and dodge around them.
I do this particularly in parking lots because those drivers are 2 minutes from becoming pedestrians themselves, so it seems fitting.
My move is a vague wave in the car’s direction as I start crossing. It’s a mix between “I know who you are and I’m fine with it” and “you shall not pass”.
I don’t even particularly like it, but it’s something I saw my dad doing when I was a kid and now it just… comes out. Socialization is weird.
Same. It’s a half “nice of you” and half “I’m going now and I’m making that clear” mostly so I don’t get run over.
So weird though. Two humans walking at the same intersection will usually both try to find a suitable way around one another. Of course there are exceptions, but generally, pretty even and respectful encounter.
Throw one of those humans behind the wheel of a car and a TON of them behave completely different. As if the people walking don’t deserve the space in the world. Or that they don’t have the right to be “in the way.”
I try very hard to be a courteous driver and pedestrian, but just can’t believe how many greedy, selfish drivers there are. Eye opening if you walk around a lot.
Well, yeah, two humans at the same intersection can sidestep, move at snail’s pace and weigh roughly as much as a small donkey or a large dog.
Give one of those apes a literal ton of metal hurling itself at cheetah speeds at the slightest provocation and able only to sort of slightly alter its trajectory in a bit of a parabola and the power dynamics understandably shift a bit.
Here’s a fun note, I’m from a place where pedestrian crossings are seen as a mild invitation to slow down, so I tend to wait to see the car fully stopped before I do the magic handwave thing and cross. When I moved to a different country where stopping is seen as mandatory as long as there is anybody waiting to cross I got a TON of angry gestures hurled at me for doing that because drivers thought I was wasting their time by crossing too slowly.
Still can’t bring myself to jump in front of the self-propelled metal missile coming my way at lethal speeds without at least seeing some slowing down, though.
The difference is still there for many drivers when at a complete standstill.
I’ve been in the same situation. Amazing how different pedestrian right of way can be, even in cities less than 100 miles apart. But countries are another story. Sweden vs Vietnam is an interesting transition, although Vietnam is still relatively pedestrian friendly in the sense that they’ll try to avoid you and don’t get angry because you exist. In some parts of Mexico, it literally feels like the drivers want to run you over, even if you blatantly have the right of way.
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Are you sure they’re not just doing normal eye contact to make sure they’re not getting run over? It’s more or less taught like that here in Germany.
Positive 😄 i went to marbella for a medical thing and stayed in the old town, and when the hospital sent a car to pick me up, people were very annoyed every time.
How did they express their annoyance, other than looking at the driver?
Angry hand gestures, obviously taking their time getting out of the way, etc