hey, i'm walking here!

I know little about road rules and simple driving etiquette. But I always thought that sidewalks were pedestrians' own little safe haven.

Twice today, two motorists were annoyed with me - for walking on the sidewalk. One guy wanted to make a left turn going out to the street from a McDonald's drive-thru. I was aware of his car and since the traffic had stopped and there was no way he could make it anyway, I decided that I would go on my merry way cautiously. And since he saw me coming, I expected him to stop. Well, he decides to gun it to try and sneak into the traffic. And yells at me for deterring his plan - not my intention mind you. Five hours later, a dude decides to do the same thing. Except this one effectively blocks the sidewalk in time and shows his displeasure at my attempt to stop him (again, by walking on the sidewalk) and scowls at me. I'm pretty sure I saw him bearing his teeth as well. Was I in the wrong?

I've experienced pretty hairy car situations before, notably the one in 1997 where I stupidly jay-ran without looking for oncoming traffic and got hit by a car, fell and slid maybe 15 feet on my ass, and got up on shaky legs but otherwise unscathed. I've learned my lesson and since then, I've been an extremely cautious pedestrian.

I bike on the road on occasion and even when I'm on designated bike lanes, I get cut off by aggressive, greedy drivers who honk at me for following cyclist rules. [I'm not even going to start ranting about bikes on sidewalks because there are some exceptions, but that lady who got hit by a cyclist on the sidewalk and died? Insane. There's just no safe place to walk on anymore!]

Motorists think they rule the roads and it seems they are also staking claim on sidewalks. One of our neighbours usually ends up parking his giant van on the sidewalk because it doesn't fit in his driveway and we have to walk on the street to get around it. Is there no end to their avarice and grandiosity (I've always wanted to use that word and finally I get a chance to - correctly I hope)!?