Here are some situations that really happened, that I have seen here in Japan. Would you do the same thing?
#1
If you were riding your bike on the very side of a busy street - 2 lanes going one way and two lanes going the other way - would you swerve out into the closest lane next to you if there was nothing in front of you to swerve for? Would you do it without looking to see if there are cars coming? How about: would you cross all 4 lanes of traffic without looking to see if there is anyone coming.
Last year on the way to a game a biker (it was an older gentleman) did just this. He was riding on the side of the road when all of a sudden he started crossing lanes of traffic. The van I was in had to swerve to miss him on one side and the car that was following us had to swerve the other way to avoid hitting him. We looked out the back and saw him continue all away across the 4 lanes of traffic. Did it seem to startle him that he almost got hit twice? Nope. To be honest I don't even think he knew we were there.
#2
If you were walking along a busy street during the weekend when there is a lot of traffic (again - 2 lanes going one way and 2 lanes going the other way), would you cross it where there was no crosswalk? What if you were in Japan (I ask this because here in Japan when you are at a crosswalk and waiting to cross the road, you wait until the little man goes from red to green to signal its okay to walk. It could be that there are no cars on the road or no cars for 15 miles but you would wait for the little red man to turn green. I would say 95% of the people do this here - and at every crosswalk. Sure, you get your rebels, but for the most part this is how it is. So, to cross the street where there is no crosswalk and no little green man is quite out of the ordinary.)
Back to the scenario: would you cross it where there was no crosswalk? Would you also cross this busy street without looking to see if there are cars coming? What if you were 80+ years old? What if you had a walker?
I saw this happen last year. An older lady was walking along the busy road on the sidewalk when she decided to cross the street. Only she didn't look to see if there were any cars coming until halfway through the first lane. Luckily she did look, because cars were coming and she turned around in time to make it safely back.
#3
For the next scenario, the intersection I was waiting at didn't have a little green man or a little red man to tell you when it was okay to walk/go.
If you could see the traffic light in front of you was red would you still cross the street? Would you do it without looking to see if there were any cars coming? Would you do it if you were elderly and in an electric mobility scooter?
I was sitting in my teammates car at a stop light about a month ago. Our light was red and had just turned a little while before. You could also clearly see the light for the traffic going across in front of us was green, meaning they could go. Again it was an older gentleman, but he passed us in his electric mobility scooter, didn't even check to see if there were any cars coming and went straight through the light which was still red. The street that he went through was also a pretty busy street and I almost closed my eyes when I cringed because I thought for sure he wasn't going to make it.
Luckily nothing happened but I dont think I would take my chances like that.
These are just 3 instances like this, but I have seen things like this happen many times. Here in Japan there are many cultural things and rules that people follow and based on what I have seen I think maybe there is one where the elderly have the right away. Not sure if this is really the case or not, but if you happen to visit Japan keep an extra eye out to be safe.
#1
If you were riding your bike on the very side of a busy street - 2 lanes going one way and two lanes going the other way - would you swerve out into the closest lane next to you if there was nothing in front of you to swerve for? Would you do it without looking to see if there are cars coming? How about: would you cross all 4 lanes of traffic without looking to see if there is anyone coming.
Last year on the way to a game a biker (it was an older gentleman) did just this. He was riding on the side of the road when all of a sudden he started crossing lanes of traffic. The van I was in had to swerve to miss him on one side and the car that was following us had to swerve the other way to avoid hitting him. We looked out the back and saw him continue all away across the 4 lanes of traffic. Did it seem to startle him that he almost got hit twice? Nope. To be honest I don't even think he knew we were there.
#2
If you were walking along a busy street during the weekend when there is a lot of traffic (again - 2 lanes going one way and 2 lanes going the other way), would you cross it where there was no crosswalk? What if you were in Japan (I ask this because here in Japan when you are at a crosswalk and waiting to cross the road, you wait until the little man goes from red to green to signal its okay to walk. It could be that there are no cars on the road or no cars for 15 miles but you would wait for the little red man to turn green. I would say 95% of the people do this here - and at every crosswalk. Sure, you get your rebels, but for the most part this is how it is. So, to cross the street where there is no crosswalk and no little green man is quite out of the ordinary.)
Back to the scenario: would you cross it where there was no crosswalk? Would you also cross this busy street without looking to see if there are cars coming? What if you were 80+ years old? What if you had a walker?
I saw this happen last year. An older lady was walking along the busy road on the sidewalk when she decided to cross the street. Only she didn't look to see if there were any cars coming until halfway through the first lane. Luckily she did look, because cars were coming and she turned around in time to make it safely back.
#3
For the next scenario, the intersection I was waiting at didn't have a little green man or a little red man to tell you when it was okay to walk/go.
If you could see the traffic light in front of you was red would you still cross the street? Would you do it without looking to see if there were any cars coming? Would you do it if you were elderly and in an electric mobility scooter?
I was sitting in my teammates car at a stop light about a month ago. Our light was red and had just turned a little while before. You could also clearly see the light for the traffic going across in front of us was green, meaning they could go. Again it was an older gentleman, but he passed us in his electric mobility scooter, didn't even check to see if there were any cars coming and went straight through the light which was still red. The street that he went through was also a pretty busy street and I almost closed my eyes when I cringed because I thought for sure he wasn't going to make it.
Luckily nothing happened but I dont think I would take my chances like that.
These are just 3 instances like this, but I have seen things like this happen many times. Here in Japan there are many cultural things and rules that people follow and based on what I have seen I think maybe there is one where the elderly have the right away. Not sure if this is really the case or not, but if you happen to visit Japan keep an extra eye out to be safe.
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