A bit of a scare today

Popped downtown for while & on the way back, 1/2 mile from home, doing 25mph (honest) & approached a zebra crossing, green light in my favour, when a young mum with 2 youngsters in tow & a baby in a pushchair just WALKED OUT IN FRONT OF ME, slammed the anchors on & found myself looking at the young mums head 2 ft from me, couldn't see any of the kids at all!!

She started mouthing off at me & I pointed up at the lights which were STILL green for me & red for her!!

She then carried on across to the other side, THEN the lights changed, now what REALLY scared me, was had I clobbered them, I would almost certainly have killed them, (2.5 ton Land Rover)  & WHO WOULD HAVE BELIEVED ME, since the lights change all the time???

Makes you wonder if she'd been on the 'wacky-backkie'.

What would one do in a case like this?

A good reason to fit a journey recorder perhaps?

I have been thinking of one for a while now but not sure what to get (cheaply).

Davy

Funny that you mention that, as I have a forward facing continuous loop mini video camera on the M/H dash, perhaps I should fit one to the cars as well.

I had a dog run out in front of me while on holiday and that shook me up enough. I can imagine what you felt like.
Some young mothers have no idea of the responsibility they have, pushing their pushchairs off the pavement in front of oncoming traffic putting their child in danger, letting toddlers cross the road without holding their hand etc. etc..

I did mention on here a while ago that there is a free phone app that allows your phone to record journeys I took it off mine due to lack of (phone) memory.
http://www.dailyroads.com/voyager.php

Frank

So much stupidity on the roads , I would not go out without a car camera now.  You can spend a little or a lot up to you, mine cost me £30 from Amazon

Gary

gj1023 wrote:So much stupidity on the roads , I would not go out without a car camera now.  You can spend a little or a lot up to you, mine cost me £30 from Amazon

Gary

Got a link Gary?

PB

Hi PB this is the one I got , but there is a lot on Amazon, just put in car camera

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TaoTronics%C2%AE-TT-CD01-Camera-Recorder-Vision/dp/B0056WFPCK/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1377765775&sr=8-10&keywords=car+camera

Gary

Hi PB,
if you go to http://www.techmoan.com/ you'll find lots of honest reviews on these cameras. Some are good, some are not so good and some are carp.

Frank

Thanks guys

PB

I have a couple of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-5-LCD-HD-Auto-Cam-Vehicle-DVR-Road-Dash-Video-Camera-Recorder-Camcorder-H198-/400559229655?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item5d4330cad7

One is in the Motor home, the second is about to be fitted to the car!!

Cheap & cheerful, but has 640 x 480 res, constantly recording in 15min segments, & its rather good actually.

Pedant alert!

Sorry, but for clarification I assume you meant a pelican crossing, not a zebra crossing?

Yeh, OK, PELICAN crossing, zebras don't have the traffic/pedestrian lights.

I might add, that upon re-reading my original post, that I may have been a bit 'slow' to re-act, but it was not so, they were walking alongside the pavement/railings, when she simply & abruptly turned right as she pressed the button & walked across, just like some HGV artics that indicate & pull out right in front of you when you are just about to pass them. AND, remember, I had the green light.

I see your location is California. Isn't a Harmony considered a bit small over there?

The post before Pauls was an enticement to buy from a first time poster you I've deleted it and we'll see if he comes back.

Peter

It jogged my memory to post something in the dashcam thread which I'd been meaning to do!
So it served some good(?) purpose.

Frank

Peter Brown wrote:The post before Pauls was an enticement to buy from a first time poster you I've deleted it and we'll see if he comes back.

Peter

I thought it might be, that's why I posted the 'tongue in cheek' response regarding the Harmony.

a guy pulled a stupid manoeuvre cutting across three lanes of traffic then stopping dead. There was no way I could avoid hitting him. When the cops came he lied to them and said I ran into him when he was driving normally. None of the other drivers stopped, so no witnesses.

Since then I've had a dashboard cam.

Seriously thinking of getting a dash cam.. an example.

First time out in the new van driving east on  A30 dual carriageway near Bodmin and a tractor pulled out of a turning across the road to wait in the central reservation for the other lane to clear. Nothing wrong with that, a bit tight but he had time just.......

He must have forgotten though that he had a large trailer on the back which blocked both the eastbound lanes completely and I had nowhere to go, swerved, took to the grass and somehow held it and missed him and he didn't even know!!

Grrrrrrr!