Drunk pedestrians on the road

Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2003
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7,409
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UK
Afternoon,

I went out for long drive last night with a friend and at about 11pm decided to get something to eat from town.

I knew that we might run into trouble as it's Friday night and all the idiots are out struggling to handle their beer. So I made sure we locked the doors and set off through the town centre.

Further down the road I see three to four people in the middle of the road looking drunk. There was one girl in the middle of the road on her knees crying her eyes out - obviously very drunk. Another girl was trying to get her off the road whilst I presume her bofriend next to her is feeling sorry for himself not trying to get her off the road at all, saying that he wished he'd stiffed something or other with his arms flailing about.

There are other people by the road-side standing outside the pub just observing and there's me in my car stationary by the drunkards in the road.

After about a minute it becomes apparent that she wants to die hence her being in the road. I'm in two-minds about what course of action to take. I certainly didn't want to get out of the car because there were many of them and just me and my mate.

As you know, drunk people can be very hard to deal with and you don't know what else they've had, what they're carrying and what they'll do.

So my choices are limited. I'm thinking of going round them...that is till the car behind me takes this option before me.

He nails it around my car, and drives on the opposite side of the road past the drunks but the boyfriend jumps out in front of the car almost being hit by it so I decide to reverse further up the road and do a U-turn.

The girl starts to get up and heads off in the same direction as me towards another car further up the road which has sensibly stood way back to observe the situation. She's still trying to get run over.

I pull over into a bus stop at the top of the road and get my mate to call the Police...

They didn't want to know.

We told them off the situation and the male at the other end of the phone only asked us where this was to which we said Sarum Hill (which could be anywhere!) and asked my friend for his name and then that was the end of the call.

Do the Police find out where the mobile phone is position and divert the call to a local switchboard or something? Because he didn't even ask us where Sarum Hill was, it could be absolutely anywhere, just like London road...how many places have you heard with this name. Exactly.

I just want to know what any of you guys would have done had you been in my situation. Would you have done what the other car did and overtook?

I think that if I'd known further up the road exactly what was happening I would have done what the third car did and just stood well back and observed but I though that they where just crossing the road very drunk.

What would have happened if that car did hit one of the drunkards? Would the Police only be interested then? :rolleyes:
 
Enfield said:
I think that if I'd known further up the road exactly what was happening I would have done what the third car did and just stood well back and observed but I though that they where just crossing the road very drunk.

What would have happened if that car did hit one of the drunkards? Would the Police only be interested then? :rolleyes:
I've had a similar-ish situation before, admittedly with no suicide girl. There were about 10-15 people all over the road, all pretty rowdy. I just drove around them as best I could but at a reasonable pace, and so the all moved out the way - I had to keep my wits very much about me, though. In your particular scenario I'd have probably tried to do what the third car did.

Interestingly, Google Maps says there's only one Sarum Hill :p
 
Yes i've been in that situation too.

I did what you did, I nailed it past them and they all moved out of the way. They were playing chicken, running across the road.
 
This seems to happen to me in London quite often, but also in the day so I don't think they are drunk!

It's odd/scary how different people react differently after a few/a world of drinks. I'm quite sure i've always been able to cross the road safely, though maybe I was never that drunk. :/

In that situation, flying past drunkards I would have thought would be pretty dangerous, as you say/saw. I'd have likely either tried to crawl past (in the car that is) slowly, nudging the buggers, or turn around/back-up. Depends if the car has been playing up and deserves a good kicking really.
 
Happened to me earlier this year. Was pulling out of a junction in town, car coming down a hill towards me on my left intended in turning into the junction that I was coming out of, so the driver slowed, flashed her headlights and motioned me to pull out before she turned in.

I looked right, then back towards her Audi and gave her a wave in acknowledgement, looked right again and then began to slowly pull out.

There were two parked cars on the opposite side of the street from me and in a split second, a pedestrian ran out between them and across the front of me. I immediately slammed the brakes on and he gently glanced my front offside wing.

Then he fell straight to the ground. I got out and checked him over, giving him a primary and then secondary survey ( I'm a firefighter, and was thinking "how embarrasing is this??!!!" ). He had no injuries at all which was hardly surprising given the way he just glanced the car.

He was, however, rolling around and screaming he was hurt. Managed to calm him down and put him in the recovery position.

When I first began to examine him, the thing I most remember was an overpowering stench of alcohol. I found a half empty bottle of vodka in his trouser pocket too.

Ambulance turned up, as did the police.

As soon as the Ambo bods saw who it was, they rolled their eyes. They were on first name terms with this wee fella, as were the police.

I was taken into the back of the police van and given a breath test, which of course showed up negative. The WPC told me that a report would be submitted to the procurator fiscal but not to worry about it at all. This fella had done this sort of thing hundreds of times before, either because he was so out of his face he didnt realise what he was doing, or on other occasions, because he was attempting to deliberately injure himself and claim legal compensation from innocent drivers. A dangerous game to play, but there you have it.

It doesnt matter how good a driver you are or how fast your reactions are.

If you encounter someone with an agenda like above, you may end up in a similar situation to me at that point.

Really annoyed me after speaking to the police but they said nothing could be done about it.

I've since heard that this individual has done this 3 further times, the last time he was hit by a taxi driver and sustained an injury to his leg for which he attempted to claim for under legal aid. :mad:
 
I have unintentioally hit a guys leg i was driving a long the this guy is in the road about a foot from the kerb sees me coming sticks his leg out, i had no time to react i hit him, a quick check in my rear view mirror i see him hobbling about, did i stop no, it was his own fault.

thedazman
 
I went down Mansfield last weekend to pick my drunk mate up. It was 1.30am and was very aware of "the drunks" picked my mate up, stopped off at the pizza place and left. I had to pull out from behind a bus and couldnt see any oncoming traffic as my view was blocked. A policeman on the pavement saw me struggling and as he had a clear view of the road, he waved me out ... so im passing this bus and as im just past the front of it i hear a thud. I pull over, some drunken fool had run out from infront of the parked up bus and clattered the rear of my car!!! and in the process snapped my aerial off. Luckily he carried on running across the road straight into the arms of the policeman who had waved me out 10secs prior.

IDIOTS
 
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