I know he was PA, but was I in the wrong?

[LadyClaire]

I think he was just plain rude.

I go for walks at night and wear bright colors and reflective tape. It's dark out early, so assuming people can see you + dark clothing can equal a very bad accident. I also get off the road- there are few sidewalks where I live.

There's a woman who walks in my subdivision every single morning. She walks even if it's raining or snowing. She wears dark/gray clothes, doesn't have reflectors on her clothes, and walks on the road, not the sidewalk. She won't even move to the sidewalk if cars are coming up behind her. It boggles my mind that she does this, because she is almost impossible to see when it's dark in the mornings, and when it's rainy/snowing out it makes it even more difficult to see her.

[MamaMootz]

If it makes you feel any better, OP, I had something like this happen to me a few weeks ago when I took my DD to the Crayola factory in Easton, PA. I was driving around a city square and following a bus, and to be honest I didn't know the area and was focused on the bus and not the stoplights. There are stoplights at every intersection and you are allowed to make a right turn on red at all of them. As I was slowing down to make a right at a light, it changed and there was a pedestrian there who was starting to cross the street. I stopped but he stood there in the crosswalk, cursing at me in all kinds of wonderful language, and gave me quite a few hand gestures followed by a hearty send off of the f word. I was astonished that he was so mad... honestly, I stopped as soon as I saw him, but maybe he nearly gets run over daily or he was having a bad day or something. My 10 year old was crimson from the language he hurled at us, though.

Sometimes, people are just --- wacky. Maybe P/A guy was having a really bad day.

[Flora Louise]

I've posted before about my mother's reaction to people like this, maybe you can use it. When someone yells at her like that in traffic, she rolls down the window and looks at them as if she recognizes them, waves,  and calls out, "Oh, hi! See you in church!"

[RebeccainGA]

I've posted before about my mother's reaction to people like this, maybe you can use it. When someone yells at her like that in traffic, she rolls down the window and looks at them as if she recognizes them, waves,  and calls out, "Oh, hi! See you in church!"

OK, my cube neighbor now thinks I'm insane for cackling out loud. Since I have church related license plate holder and bumper sticker on my van, it'll even be PLAUSIBLE. LOL

[onikenbai]

A couple of weeks ago in Toronto we had 7 pedestrians hit all over the city within 2 hours.  The media was quick to point out that every single one of them was wearing black.  Seriously, embrace colours if you're going to walk in the dark, especially if you've got your ipod going too.

[laceandbits]

Although it may not have been possible as the OP had to get a wheelchair out and into the van, it is much safer to reverse into spaces because then you don't run the risk of hitting people on the way out.  It is also easier (with a little practise) to reverse into a tight space than to go in frontwise.  Some of our UK supermarkets have a central pedestrian walkways with bollards each side and the cars are supposed to reverse in so the trolleys can unload into the boot (trunk) and aren't all over the roadway area, but only about a quarter of them do.  This is an excellent idea for wheelchair users.  Don't you have this in the US where you have so much more room?

I saw a young child hit by a car reversing in this way.  He was only a foot or so in front of Mum, walking next to and holding onto the supermarket trolley.  The driver's excuse was that he only saw the mother and (not noticing that she was pushing a trolley) thought he could nip out before she was level with him, and that she'd wait for him to finish his manoeuvre.  I was pleased to be a witness for mum, and to be able to say that the child was not running loose.  He wasn't hurt too bad as the driver had stopped when Mum screamed, but was very scared, bless him.