Anecdotes from a youth spent wandering the roads at night
It was a dark night and I was walking down the middle of the road. I took off my sweatshirt and my eye-glasses got caught in the fabric and pulled off my head. (I should note that I'm very nearsighted.) With my glasses tangled up, I glanced around me to make sure that there were no car sneaking up behind me while I was blinded and distracted. Behind me I see the moon, low on the horizon, and I do not panic or move out of the roadway. A moment later with my glasses back on I see that it was not the moon, but rather a street light. It could have been a car with one headlight, and I would have still thought it was the moon. Someday I will go the way of the deer.
I've caused two car accidents by crossing the street, both times at the same crosswalk. I patiently waited for both directions of traffic to stop, a half dozen cars quickly backed up at my momentary disruption, and a car far back in the queue didn't stop in time and a fender bender ensued. I usually don't mess around with pedestrian traffic rules unless I'm forced to by social norms. I walk wherever I please, and I ensure my own safety regardless of where the sidewalk, crosswalk, or oncoming traffic happens to be.
Rolling the dice. When I go for a run down the quietest path I know of, I almost always remember to look both ways before crossing the street. Sometimes I stop just short of the road which panics any drivers into stopping short as well, much to their displeasure though I've never caused an incident in this way. On rare and happy occasions I forget to look before running across the road, and at these times the oncoming traffic has never flinched. I call this "rolling the dice" and lucky me has never been hit by a car.
I was wandering late at night in a distant and rural part of town when I encountered a stranger. I'm not usually fearful of strangers but I do look after myself. We happened to pass in the dark between the streetlights. As we approached each other he paused and nervously called out "Are you my wife?" Haha no, not I, I replied. "Oh thank god" he exclaimed as he walked his way home from the bar.