h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well.

Earlier today, I was returning home with some laundry. I was walking up the path, carrying my huge bag, and heard the green man come up (the beeping sound) on the pedestrian crossing ahead. So I ran, hoping to cross before it disappeared. I was on the road just before it started flashing, with enough time to run across before the light went green.

However, the car had other ideas. The students who pressed the button had crossed, the green man started flashing and it was off! So it started moving forward to intersect my line of travel.

Because I was running with a large bag, there was no way I could possibly stop, and the car obviously wasn't for stopping. I saw with a sudden clarity that, given the car's movement and my momentum, there was no way it wasn't going to hit me. I would be half in front of it by the time I stopped, and the car wasn't slowing down. There was only one thing for it, and that was to go even faster so that I would pass the car before it hit me.

I didn't quite manage this.

The car hit me on the leg as I jumped out of its way at the last second. I got past, barely on my feet, and landed in the wet... stuff that the workmen spread over the pavement earlier that day. I wasn't badly hurt, and the only mental effects thus far were a sudden clarity from a burst of adrenaline.

The car slowed down after it had hit me and then continued on its way without actually stopping at all. During the critical period, the driver hadn't hit the breaks at any point. I was across before the light changed.

Did the driver somehow imagine that only metal objects possess inertia, and that I would stop the moment I saw it was breaking the law? Was he so busy that he couldn't pull over into the little indentation conveniently located half a metre from him to check that I was OK? Are brakes only to be applied if you actually want to stop, and not to avoid clumsy organic locomotor devices?

When I got back to my flat, rather shaken, I discovered that my flatmate Laura had been through a similar experience. However, she was actually knocked to the ground, and the car simply continued without stopping at all!

Is the possible injury of innocent students a fair price for an extra second?

- Jordan