RSSThe 3/4th Pedestrian Dash Principle
Jan 14
Only in the Philippines (I think)…
I just cant understand what drives pedestrian to make a sudden dash to cross the road but stop at about 3/4ths of the road. I know that normal people by instinct have a tendency to fear being hit by an oncoming vehicle so I cant for the life of me fathom why crossing pedestrians always stop at that specific point of crossing. Three-fourths of the road means that you an approaching vehicle will not just clip you but hit you head-on. The safe zones (if there are any) is halfway, where the vehicles of both lanes can afford to leave unused, and at the other side of the road. Stopping anywhere else is a death wish.
I initially thought that it was because people are slowing down from their mad dash to cross the road but I dont see the point of slowing down so your body is at the dead center of the approaching vehicle. It would be safer to slowdown after you have reached the other side of the road unless there is not enough sidewalk to perform the slowdown. Seeing this behavior frequently shows that this is not an isolated case to a specific location. I have seen it in the cities as well as in the not-so-developed parts of the country. I have seen this behavior in people of varying age, gender and sexual preferences. There is some logic in all this craziness but I am at wits end trying to figure it out. Anybody notices this behavior and want to help me puzzle this out?
ciao!
Jan 21, 2007 @ 13:23:47
Erin, i am sure you are not the only one… i, too, have noticed people doing this… and more, they glare at me when they stop!! ano ba yun??
but it is not only people who do this… sometimes, vehicles, of course being drove by people, do this when they cut in fron of you… imagine this: you are driving on a road with so much traffic. the road in front of you opens up, then a vehicle either on your left or right suddenly swerves to cut in front of you… of course you suddenly brake, he stops just as he is about to get in front, glares at you, the goes his way…
isn’t people great?? 😀
8)
Jan 24, 2007 @ 21:44:58
hi chris,
hahaha, yes the same behavior can be seen on drivers but pedestrians have more at stake since the human body is more fragile than a speeding hunk of metal.
i can understand people having second thoughts on whether they can clear the crossing but in those instances they would stop in a spot wherein they have a greater percentage of not being hit (i.e. mid-point of a two-lane road). there is no sane reason why anybody without suicidal intent would stop where getting hit by an oncoming vehicle is a given. 🙁
thanks for dropping in… 🙂
ciao!
Feb 01, 2007 @ 16:14:37
Erin, i was able to fix the RSS problem you were having on my blog… go to http://www.haravata.com/blog/?p=130 and see that it is now fixed…
Ciao… 8)