In Scotland, there has always been a presumption – in the minds of drivers, if not the authorities – that the car comes first. Those on foot must wait until the road is clear of vehicles, when there is no green man or zebra crossing.
I had first hand experience of this last night as I crossed an deserted city centre street* last night.
As I walked across, a car that had been parked on the left hand side of the road signalled and pulled out. I was now half way across the road passing from the left-turn lane to the right-turn lane and so kept on walking. Cardriverman obviously wanted to turn right because he swung out and simply drove towards me sounding his horn. No reason why he couldn't have made his manoeuvre after he'd passed me expect for the fact that the car comes first, I guess.
He got an enthusiastic wave in response which, with bad timing, only turned into the universal sign language for onanist once he was behind me.
*This was at 17h30, so said broad two lane wide street was deserted at rush hour. And yet we don't have room for wider pavements or segregated cyclelanes...
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