I realize that. What about self-preservation? Why walk behind an obviously moving car? It is possible not to get hit by a car in a parking lot. I've been making sure I don't for all my life. I have never thought that having the right of way would save my life or limb, either while driving or while walking..
You are absolutely right. I see jaywalking here all the time. Everyone should be respectful of right-of-way but they're not. It's everyone for themselves in any situation. People are just dumb, jingle-jangling in their own worlds.
True! Apparently everyone has forgotten, or no-one teaches kids anymore, that before you enter space thru which vehicles move you need to do a visual check. Even at stoplights when in my car and light goes green, i do quick scan for the perpendicular traffic and for pedestrians. The first has saved me from many collisions, more than once with semi trucks, running their red light.
No, they don't. I don't know about other states, but in CA, it depends on the details.
The injury I have from falling into the garage is something the doctors refer to as a "bumper Injury," because it's usually caused when a car hits the pedestrian in the knee. It broke the tibia, the femur, knocked the cap out of place and tore all four big leg ligaments. Yes I'm permanently messed up and have to walk with a cane, plus it gets worse every day because nothing around the joint is aligned correctly anymore.
My father was born in 1908. In the late 1930s (before me) he was involved in two accidents. The first was as a truck driver, when some debris came off a truck and injured him. A few years later, a bus ran into his car and he was severely injured. This was all of course before workers compensation, personal injury lawyers, widespread insurance coverages, etc. He never received any financial compensation. The result was that he became a hunchback and could not turn his head to either side. And because nothing was aligned correctly, his internal organs were "compromised" (according to my older sister who knows more about both incidents than I do). He died at age 73, mostly from emphysema, due to a lifetime of cigarette smoking (which I have avoided) but also from the permanent injuries he sustained as a young man.
I don't do it. As I walk behind a line of parked cars, I look in each car. If someone is sitting in the driver's seat, I make damn sure they're not getting ready to back up. And if the Reverse lights are on, I wait.
Perhaps what's needed is a siren and a loudspeaker. First the siren goes off, then over the loudspeaker, "Pay attention, you idiot! Look where you're going, there are cars moving here! Look up from your freaking phone for a split second. Pay attention, so you don't get run over!" Despite that, most people would probably think you weren't directing it at them.
It's hopeless.
