Suicidal country lane joggers
Discussion
Mrs A was driving child 3 to school the other day along a narrow-ish country lane - the sort that with enough room (just) for two cars side to side, but no pavements, and enclosed in high hedges, and twisty turny. National speed limit, but no real chance of making progress, and always the risk of a large tractor suddenly appearing around a bend.
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it, and is suddenly faced with a female jogger jogging towards her, on her side, in the middle of the lane. She managed to swerve around the jogger - who was wearing headphones !! and nothing happened. But, had a car been coming the other way, there would be nowhere to swerve and the options would have been run the jogger over, a head-on collision, or a ditch and possibly a tree.
Now clearly the jogger was entitled to use the road, but was she entitled to put traffic at risk by running in the middle of the oncoming lane around a blind bend?
I have run along similar lanes, but having heard approaching traffic would stop to stand on the verge in that situation.
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it, and is suddenly faced with a female jogger jogging towards her, on her side, in the middle of the lane. She managed to swerve around the jogger - who was wearing headphones !! and nothing happened. But, had a car been coming the other way, there would be nowhere to swerve and the options would have been run the jogger over, a head-on collision, or a ditch and possibly a tree.
Now clearly the jogger was entitled to use the road, but was she entitled to put traffic at risk by running in the middle of the oncoming lane around a blind bend?
I have run along similar lanes, but having heard approaching traffic would stop to stand on the verge in that situation.
I think entitled is a strong word... however "you should always be able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear" - which is what this boils down to - IMHO, putting the onus on the driver to create a safe environment.
What if there was a broken down car there and oncoming traffic, the argument is the same.
Pragmatically, running into blind bends on country roads whilst wearing headphones is asking to be run over, but also driving faster than the distance you can see to stop in is asking to be the first on the scene of an accident.
Glad no one was hurt
What if there was a broken down car there and oncoming traffic, the argument is the same.
Pragmatically, running into blind bends on country roads whilst wearing headphones is asking to be run over, but also driving faster than the distance you can see to stop in is asking to be the first on the scene of an accident.
Glad no one was hurt
Ayahuasca said:
Mrs A was driving child 3 to school the other day along a narrow-ish country lane - the sort that with enough room (just) for two cars side to side, but no pavements, and enclosed in high hedges, and twisty turny. National speed limit, but no real chance of making progress, and always the risk of a large tractor suddenly appearing around a bend.
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it, and is suddenly faced with a female jogger jogging towards her, on her side, in the middle of the lane. She managed to swerve around the jogger - who was wearing headphones !! and nothing happened. But, had a car been coming the other way, there would be nowhere to swerve and the options would have been run the jogger over, a head-on collision, or a ditch and possibly a tree.
Now clearly the jogger was entitled to use the road, but was she entitled to put traffic at risk by running in the middle of the oncoming lane around a blind bend?
I have run along similar lanes, but having heard approaching traffic would stop to stand on the verge in that situation.
Some people are dShe gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it, and is suddenly faced with a female jogger jogging towards her, on her side, in the middle of the lane. She managed to swerve around the jogger - who was wearing headphones !! and nothing happened. But, had a car been coming the other way, there would be nowhere to swerve and the options would have been run the jogger over, a head-on collision, or a ditch and possibly a tree.
Now clearly the jogger was entitled to use the road, but was she entitled to put traffic at risk by running in the middle of the oncoming lane around a blind bend?
I have run along similar lanes, but having heard approaching traffic would stop to stand on the verge in that situation.
heads. The whole reason that i use bone conducting headphones so that I have awareness of traffic around meAyahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it,
I would say that it was a low or very low speed bend. Your wife was driving too fast.Highway Code Rule 126: Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
kieranbennett said:
Ayahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it,
I would say that it was a low or very low speed bend. Your wife was driving too fast.Highway Code Rule 126: Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
Ayahuasca said:
kieranbennett said:
Ayahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it,
I would say that it was a low or very low speed bend. Your wife was driving too fast.Highway Code Rule 126: Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
kieranbennett said:
Ayahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it,
I would say that it was a low or very low speed bend. Your wife was driving too fast.Highway Code Rule 126: Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
When I lived in Kent my kids had to get to school along just such a lane. What got to my wife, and me when I could go with them, was that drivers would gesticulate, hoot and swear when they came around a corner and had to brake hard. Yet there were any number of children walking. It beggared belief. After complaints to the head teacher, and from her to the police, a police motorbike or car occasionally drove along the road at an appropriate speed, often the rate of the walkers. There was no gesticulating, hooting or abusive language.
SmoothCriminal said:
If you are on a road with no footpath you are supposed to walk towards oncoming traffic what's your problem maybe better advice than berating the jogger would be to get your wife to slow down.
In fairness it is a six of one half a dozen of the other. She said the jogger was "in the middle of the lane". Which could be in female speak 4" from the verge or could have been a foot or two away.I certainly wouldn’t condone running along any road with headphones in, purely in the interest of self preservation, but I suspect legally the onus lies with the driver to drive at a speed in proportion with visibility. The problem being that as car drivers many of us forget that pedestrians, cyclists etc are entitled to use the roads as much as drivers (excepting the motorway and other specific examples).
Ayahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it, and is suddenly faced with a female jogger jogging towards her, on her side, in the middle of the lane.
I hope she didn't get indignant about the jogger running along facing oncoming traffic, like the Highway Code says she should.A couple of observations....
I stopped walking home to where I lived at that time due to it being unsuitable to be a pedestrian. Highlighted when someone was killed doing so. Unlit B road with nowhere to jump to for long stretches.
It’s a shame more people who walk/jog/cycle don’t stop and consider their safety on such roads. Too many drivers go too fast on roads with restricted visibility. When out on training runs I was lucky in having decent safe routes with only a couple of dodgy bends.
When commuting in the mornings I had to drive through a bendy, uphill section with high hedges (A road ). In summer a couple of guys cycled on it as a commute. There were only a couple of trully safe passing points due to blind bends. There were a number of near misses and I had to brake to avoid cyclists and passing vehicle several times. In theevenings another chap used to cause tailbacks on a different stretch of theroad. Cycling, head down, seemingly single minded in his commute.
I was prepared for the cyclists due to it being a daily thing. I even left 5 mins earlier to change where I would find them but theevening chap...unavoidable.
Trouble is too many motorists these days don’t seem to appreciate the potential for dangers/hazards. Too many joggers/cyclists are the same.
Why do both groups create the situation?
Daft.
I stopped walking home to where I lived at that time due to it being unsuitable to be a pedestrian. Highlighted when someone was killed doing so. Unlit B road with nowhere to jump to for long stretches.
It’s a shame more people who walk/jog/cycle don’t stop and consider their safety on such roads. Too many drivers go too fast on roads with restricted visibility. When out on training runs I was lucky in having decent safe routes with only a couple of dodgy bends.
When commuting in the mornings I had to drive through a bendy, uphill section with high hedges (A road ). In summer a couple of guys cycled on it as a commute. There were only a couple of trully safe passing points due to blind bends. There were a number of near misses and I had to brake to avoid cyclists and passing vehicle several times. In theevenings another chap used to cause tailbacks on a different stretch of theroad. Cycling, head down, seemingly single minded in his commute.
I was prepared for the cyclists due to it being a daily thing. I even left 5 mins earlier to change where I would find them but theevening chap...unavoidable.
Trouble is too many motorists these days don’t seem to appreciate the potential for dangers/hazards. Too many joggers/cyclists are the same.
Why do both groups create the situation?
Daft.
Ayahuasca said:
kieranbennett said:
Ayahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it,
I would say that it was a low or very low speed bend. Your wife was driving too fast.Highway Code Rule 126: Drive at a speed that will allow you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
Unfortunately I think OP's wife is in the wrong here.
I've been brought up on narrow country roads, with tall hedges. The rule of thumb is to approach blind corners as if there is definitely something in the middle of the road on the other side - normally it is either woolly and says "baaa" or meaty and says "moooo", but occasionally it's metallic and says "ooh arrr". This methodology also prevents unwanted collisions with joggers in my experience.
I've been brought up on narrow country roads, with tall hedges. The rule of thumb is to approach blind corners as if there is definitely something in the middle of the road on the other side - normally it is either woolly and says "baaa" or meaty and says "moooo", but occasionally it's metallic and says "ooh arrr". This methodology also prevents unwanted collisions with joggers in my experience.
I know (knew) a female jogger who did very much the same, dark night, headphones on, no hi viz clothing. Ran straight into the path of an oncoming car, sadly leaving a 4yo son without a mother and her husband a widower. Whilst I understand that the jogger has a right to do it and motor vehicles should give way, it is also an incredibly dangerous thing to do.
redjohn said:
Walking into the traffic (eg right hand side of road) is exactly where you are supposed to be when there is no pavements
Except where there is a corner, and particularly not where there is a blind corner. Everything I have ever been taught about this, from Scouts to safety lessons at school, says that you should always walk around the outside of a corner. If your road is bending to the right, you should be on the left hand side.It is patently obviously why this should be the case, and why it is in everyone's interests that you do so. Bit of common sense goes a long way sometimes.
Pothole said:
Ayahuasca said:
She gets to a medium speed left hand bend, no visibility around it, and is suddenly faced with a female jogger jogging towards her, on her side, in the middle of the lane.
I hope she didn't get indignant about the jogger running along facing oncoming traffic, like the Highway Code says she should.To add to the danger, wife’s car is a hybrid electrickery thing - silent but deadly.
I once read an article in ‘Performance Car’ that said that one should imagine that there could be old lady driving a Caterham around each blind bend - sound advice. But you still don’t imagine that the Caterham is driving towards you on your side.
Ayahuasca said:
I once read an article in ‘Performance Car’ that said that one should imagine that there could be old lady driving a Caterham around each blind bend - sound advice. But you still don’t imagine that the Caterham is driving towards you on your side.
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