It’s funny how a split-second decision behind the wheel can quickly turn into a tense situation.

What would you do if you thought it was safe to move through an intersection, but a pedestrian suddenly changed direction and ended up right in front of your car? Would you apologize? Or would you just sit there and watch it all play out?

In the following story, one driver encounters this exact situation. Here’s what happened.

AITA for being too close to a pedestrian while driving

I was driving earlier today, admittedly on a schedule but not feeling too rushed, and I got to a green light where I was going to turn right, and there were two guys still finishing walking across the intersection.

I think they originally had a walk sign and were just walking through VERY SLOWLY. I sort of got the impression they enjoyed being in the way.

Obviously, I waited for them to cross, but I got a little impatient and started to drive through and turn right when I could do so without any danger of hitting them, just before they were completely out of the road.

Then, he started to go but immediately had to stop.

At this point, one of the guys changes direction to cross the other road, so he is in front of me in the crosswalk to the right, where a “Walk” signal is active.

I didn’t realize he was going to do this at first, but when I did, I stopped my car. At that point, I was sort of in the middle of the intersection, probably partially in the crosswalk, but not super close to the guy. Definitely not in danger of hitting him, and I think clearly not trying to menace him.

He walks in front of me, then turns around and comes towards me, and yells and hits the hood of my car with his hands (not hard enough to damage it, but pretty aggressively).

Now, he’s not sure how to feel about the whole thing.

Another guy starts walking towards me from the other side of the crosswalk while I’m stopped and tells me I’m not supposed to be there, and the first guy laughs and walks away.

So I guess the third guy thought I was in the wrong, but maybe he didn’t see what initially happened? Was I really being such a jerk?

I was trying to get through the intersection without impeding anyone else, and it seemed like this guy drummed up an unnecessary conflict out of nowhere. I could also have been more patient.

AITA?

Wow. It definitely sounds like there were several issues here.

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Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about it.

Not sure what this person is getting at… but here are some questions.

This reader thinks he was wrong.

Yet another person who thinks what he did was wrong.

According to this comment, his actions may have been illegal.

He needs to slow down and be more patient, because this could’ve ended pretty badly.

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