Have seen a number of posts recently where a comment is made about visitors to the UK "not looking the right/correct way" before walking across a street.
I am dumbfounded (gobsmacked?) at the thought someone would attempt to walk across a street and not look BOTH ways.
I cannot be living in the only place where there is TWO way traffic, so it has become natural to look both ways.
Your bemusement speaks to why, in many studies, jaywalking is found to be safer than crossing at crosswalks. Jaywalkers check both ways, at least twice, as a matter of course.
Don't you commonly look first to the left when crossing a two-way street in the US? Most people do.
It’s become natural for me to look “ both ways” after my first trip to London. I was looking at the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben from the north side of Bridge Street. I looked left. It was all clear so I started crossing Bridge Street until I heard a loud car horn blaring and car brakes lock up to the right of me.
Ever since then—about 40 years ago— I look both ways!
My Mom taught me when learning how to drive that you look both ways, make sure you are clear, then as you are crossing the intersection to look Left, Right, Left. Because you would get hit from the Left first.
Maybe that's what was meant.
In a drive-to-the-Left place, you would look Right, Left, Right because you would get hit from the Right first.
Hard to break old habits.
During my university years, I did a summer study program in Northern Ireland. One member of our group arrived a day or so earlier than most of the others. The first week of the program was in London, and on the day she arrived, she looked the wrong way when crossing and got hit by a car. She spent the next month or so in hospital and never did participate in the summer study program. So yes, it does happen.
Works both ways-
Winston Churchill was famously hit in NYC in December 1931 when attempting to cross Fifth Ave. Didn’t look in the direction of US traffic. Sustained injuries and was hospitalized.
I remember distinctly the large letters painted in the pavement at Glasgow Airport: "LOOK THE OTHER WAY".
They wouldn't go to the trouble and expense of stencilling "Look Right" at crosswalks if it wasn't necessary for public safety.
Looking to the direction of traffic you're about to step into is pretty natural. If you're accustomed to that being the left, it's easy to forget to look right in The UK.
I got clonked on the wrist by a car door mirror first day of a trip to Barcelona years ago because I stepped out into traffic looking the wrong way. The driver was very apologetic but it was totally my fault.
It's not just the traffic but on some urban streets, they have cycle lanes with some of the bicycles going the opposite way to the cars.
On footpaths in parks etc., cyclists come zooming up behind you and don’t even ring their bell as a warning. On such footpaths I tend to walk on the right hand side so I am facing the cyclists who usually ‘drive’ on the left.
Oh, and another thing, in Britain the cyclists all think they are on the Tour de France and have drop handlebars so they are streamlined into the wind and wear lycra. The bicycles have no mudguards because for some odd reason they like having road water and mud flying up their backsides. Contrast that with Holland and Denmark where most people have sensible bicycles with mudguards and a basket on the front to carry stuff - and wear normal clothes.
Oh, and another thing, in Britain the cyclists all think they are on the Tour de France and have drop handlebars so they are streamlined into the wind and wear lycra.
It's not really fair to compare the cycling environment in The UK to The Netherlands or Denmark. People that are out on the roads for pleasure, or have a long commute, need to carry enough speed to mix with motorised traffic at some point. Racing bikes and technical clothing is how people do that. That's not the case in those other places.
It's not speed that dangerous, it's the differential in speed that makes things dangerous. That's what makes The Netherlands safe for cycling. You're mixing with people going roughly the same speed as you almost 100% of the time.
btw, I've talked about Westminster Bridge a lot. That's THE WORST place in London for pedestrians spilling out into the cycle lane. There's not nearly enough division and it gets jam packed on the pavement [sidewalk].
Renting Lime bikes is something I'd advise against for North Americans visiting London. Looking the wrong way on a bike out in traffic has the potential to end up even worse than being a pedestrian.
During my week in London earlier this year, I felt my head was constantly swiveling, checking for traffic. And the bicycles definitely added to it.
The next week in Paris, after a couple of days, I remember thinking "I don't feel like a bobblehead anymore". But, there were still the bicyclists to contend with.
I think one gets conditioned to looking one way first, and even starting movement, before looking the other way. I've done it and seen it done. Its worse when traffic is light, and you don't have the visual and sound cues.
In 2018 we almost hit two men jaywalking across the street in Waterville Ireland. They looked left and then stepped out almost directly in front of us. We came to a screeching halt. They did look appropriately embarrassed.
We had spent a couple of days in Dublin with friends before heading west. One of the things we were told was Look Right!
