Thanks for all the feedback. I was half afraid to come back and read this thread, I was expecting to get blasted for my OP. I appreciate that even the runners gave me a break. I agree that vehicle drivers should look both ways (even when turning right). I did, in fact, glance to my right a couple of times while I sat at the stop sign and I never saw her coming, but even so, because I was focused on the traffic to my left, I started to move forward before making sure that no one was coming from my right or directly in front of me and that was my fault.
The problem is, I’ve lived here now for almost a year, and I realize the potential dangers out there and I work very hard at driving carefully and being considerate of everyone else on the road whether they are driving a vehicle or on foot. And even so, in a split second, I almost made what could have been a fatal mistake. In my scenario, I had just barely touched the gas pedal before I saw her and was easily able to stop. Someone else might have hit the gas harder and not been able to stop. A new visitor might not even realize that there are runners frequently coming from their right. I know that during the first few hours of my first visit here, I *assumed* that the diamond lanes were for carts only, and it wasn’t until I had driven around for awhile that I even realized there were pedestrians using the lane.
We must all be so careful out there no matter our mode of transportation.
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