Cool with me. At least I know they see me.

Thank you. This is the validation I need.

Fair enough. Those drivers are in the wrong. Still seems risky to not look so you can cross and risk getting hit by a bad driver. It's literally playing chicken with a car.

I haven't noticed this on big streets where the signals are clear. This is a stop sign / crosswalk thing where things can be more ambiguous. I don't look there either, I trust cars not to run the light.

Agree. I can both recognize whose responsibility it is and still think it's crazy to not double check with a half second look considering what's at stake.

I do. I can both be a careful driver and still think it's a bad idea to not look.

They don't have to do anything. But why bet your life and health on the fact that every driver is being as careful as me? This seems like a bad bet.

How the hell is this so downvoted? It's literally a link showing that doing this is in a lot of driving courses and driving best practice guides. Are people burying it because it doesn't fit their perspective? It's literally evidence that what I'm suggesting is at least widely considered a good idea.

It makes me anxious that people are just walking out into streets not looking for cars and just expecting all cars to always perfectly follow the rules.

I understand this perspective. I mean I guess I'm just assuming most drivers don't want to hit people and are less likely to run over a person looking right at them.

I'm not saying wait for permission. I do this because I feel like it makes things super clear. Just seems not worth the risk to be not to check.

If it's even a close call I stop. I guess I just prefer the certainty of a head nod or whatever.

1. Drivers should just stop.

2. Trains have lights, bars and, warning alarms that a train is coming so this is a poor metaphor. If a train was being driven by a person I could see and I had to walk in front of it. I'd make damn sure I made eye contact with that person to make sure they saw me before walking in front of it.

3. The way you've laid out the above relies on perfect adherence and perfect performance. Isn't half a second worth your life or limb to make sure the driver sees you? He should see you, he should stop, but if he doesn't something terrible will happen.

The logic you've laid out above says "I'm so busy and important that I'm not willing to sacrifice half a second and instead will rely on all drivers to be perfectly adherent and never make a mistake despite their best intentions." This just seems like a bad bet to me and a very poor trade off.

I admit it would be hard to convince me the above is a sound way of thinking. I'm a careful driver and am extra conscientious about pedestrians but I know this city has lots of drivers who aren't, so it seems like a poor risk to take.

I have never not lived in a city.

What's the comparison here? What's different about Connecticut?

> By not making eye contact, I force the car driver to actually stop for me

This is what I find uncomfortable. I don't know that you've seen me. This is like trying to communicate something with no confirmation that the message had been received. A message in a bottle. Aren't you worried I might NOT have seen you. Seems much riskier to your safety to me. It seems a really big risk for a very small benefit.

This is the exact vibe I'm describing in this post. The EXACT vibe. Like they have a magical force field and don't need to even risk assess the car.

These are the people I'm talking about. I should have been more clear. Most pedestrians we're normal. What I'm describing here is that I've noticed the incidence of the "force field" / "sovereign Pedestrians" increasing.

Yeah, it's not a "problem" it just feels weird to me when they march out without looking.

I'm guilty of this but I always glace both ways make eye contact with any stopped cars and then shove my face back in my phone 😋

Peds always have the right of way. I want to be clear that's not at all my point here.

I am often a ped myself. I like the eye contact when I'm a ped too.

But I also do what you're describing and dynamically change my walk speed based on judgement of the speed of oncoming cars. What I'm noticing is people not do that and just walk into the intersection as if no car was present.

I'm not saying this at all. I do this specifically because pedestrians matter.

You're now policing how I'm polite to pedestrians? "If you must" you can't be real.

Were you watching your butler clean your monacle while you typed this?

That's a reasonable take. I'm from a city, I have lived in this one for about 20 years. I've been noticing it a lot more recently so perhaps the person mentioning COVID had a point.

I still think the millisecond of eye contact communicates a lot and is worth it.

I'm a pedestrian often as well. I always try to make the eye contact.

Where I grew up people always crossed against the light. Maybe that has something to do with my expectations.

This is one of those moments when your jaw just drops. I'm in shock the type of people I'm describing are right here, in this thread.

Condescending? I care about making people feel safe and being safe. The other part of that person's argument is a reasonable take but condescending? I just can't believe that's a real persons take.

Who said smile? They don't HAVE TO it isn't a toll I'm extracting 🤣. I just think it's safer if both parties make eye contact so they both see that they see each other. It's tought in driver's Ed that way.

Apparently it's condescending to care about not wanting to run them over and trying to communicate means I want them to BEG to cross the street.

I think part of what makes me uneasy about it is that when they don't look at me I have this uncertainty that they see me as well. They probably do. It just feels dangerous even though I'm not the one physically in danger.