Your job as a driver is to see me. I'll go ahead and start crossing with enough time to stop if you keep ignoring me, and one of two things will happen: either you'll see me and brake, or you won't see me and I will stop, but it'll be clear to all involved that what just happened is wrong. This way, you know you're being an inattentive dick by not seeing me in time, and I'll stay safe and alive.
These kinds of handy one-liners and behaviour patterns are a big part of the problem. I shouldn't have to make eye contact with you, relying on you being semi-awake and not having illegal levels of windshield tint. Screw that, pay attention.
While you’re not wrong, being absolutely in the right won’t save your life when they do fuck up.
EDIT: lol - Downvotes for calling out reality always cracks me up. IMO, you're free to value being right over remaining alive. But life doesn't give two fucks about being right.
Right? Even when you remove selfish and inattentive drivers from the equation, you still have a human behind the wheel of the remaining vehicles. Those humans may be subject to things beyond their control such as glare, a sudden mechanical issue, a sneeze, or will simply make a mistake an humans are prone to doing. As a pedestrian we can’t blindly place responsibility for our own safety solely in the hands of the driver. It is still a shared responsibility.
When they do fuck up, what will save my life is the fact that I accounted for this ahead of time and left enough space/time to react to it and not die. Really, my original comment covers that.
These kinds of handy one-liners and behaviour patterns are a big part of the problem. I shouldn't have to make eye contact with you, relying on you being semi-awake and not having illegal levels of windshield tint. Screw that, pay attention.