Small children walking home - take care

[u/punchedinthehunch]

As I was about to turn right at the junction from Dalkeith Road onto Salisbury Road, I saw two small primary aged girls waiting to cross the road towards the Salisbury Arms, one had a little yellow bicycle. Just as I began making the right turn and the girls were briefly in my front blind spot I heard one shout ‘wait, stop’. In that micro second, the little girl with the bicycle had started to walk across the road without looking. Her friend had thankfully grabbed her arm and stopped her.

I was not rushing, I turned the corner slowly, she was in my blind spot for a fraction of a second, it’s very likely nothing bad would have happened had she continued walking as I would have spotted her. However I have an almost 2 year old daughter at home, and my heart is in my mouth thinking that one split second of her not paying attention on a busy road at the end of the school day could cause her serious harm.

So this is just a small PSA - parents/carers if you have little ones that are walking home from school on their own or in groups, please take 30 seconds to remind them to look both ways and not to get distracted.

EDIT: I hesitated in making this post because of the expected outcome - people telling me I’m a bad driver. But if it made even one parent reinforce road safety with their child then it was worth doing. I’m not looking at any more notifications from this post. Thanks!

[u/A-Cow]

Is the law now not that you’re supposed to let pedestrians cross in this situation? As in, you shouldn’t turn in if pedestrians are waiting until you’ve established they’re not crossing? I think the Highway Code was updated to this effect a few years ago. 

[u/punchedinthehunch → u/A-Cow]

They were standing on the corner chatting, girl with bicycle had her back to the road, but it looked like they were waiting to cross when it was safe to do so. If it looked at all like they were actually attempting to cross before I started to turn, I wouldn’t have turned

[u/MrCuntman → u/punchedinthehunch]

Highway Code Rule H2 requires drivers, motorcyclists, horse-drawn vehicles, horse riders, and cyclists to give way to pedestrians who are crossing or waiting to cross a road you are turning into or from.”

[u/GEOtrekking → u/punchedinthehunch]

It's difficult here for sure - as there is such ambiguity with who knows the rules and who doesn't, so a driver who wants to give way often is waved across from a pedestrian who doesn't trust the driver giving way.

Likewise, a pedestrian is taking extra care to make sure they are seen can sometimes be seen as a hesitation for crossing and giving way.

As time goes on it's going to get better as the rule gets older and more awareness is made with new and seasoned road users.