EVERY day in the Worcester News office there seems to be a gripe about over-eager drivers, whether that be in the paper, online, or among colleagues.

There are gripes from those who hate, or love, cyclists, and other moans about people who don’t stick to their appropriate driving lanes – but this is about impatience.

If you’re running late, a red light can be a terrible thing, but guess what? ... tough.

It’s the same with zebra crossings.

If there is someone on one side of that road about to cross a zebra crossing you have to stop.

If they have passed your car and are on the other side of the road you still can’t go.

As outlined in the Highway Code, if a person has one foot on the crossing, a driver has to give them the right of way and should not intimidate pedestrians by revving their engines or edging forwards.

I don’t say this from my high horse – I am an impatient driver when it comes to those people who drive at 40mph in a national speed limit zone even though it is safe to drive at the speed limit – I say this as someone who dodges cars like I’m paying an adult game of chicken on the Croft Road crossing by Worcester Racecourse over towards the Hive.

Yes, I understand the annoyance of one car moving at a time over the crossing because of the amount of people who use it, but in my opinion, that’s a really good thing.

It’s better for people to use a crossing than to dodge cars in the road where there isn’t one, despite the rule still being that pedestrians get right of way on there too.

I also agree the crossing should be changed to a traffic-light controlled system like the one in Hylton Road outside the Worcester News but the fact of the matter is, it’s not.

It’s a zebra crossing for a reason and it doesn’t matter how impatient you are, the rules still apply.

Ten seconds for someone to shuffle across the road – okay, maybe 30 seconds for the next two people who start to cross when the first and second are finished – is not going to make you incredibly late.

That crossing is there to keep people safe, so drivers it’s up to you to ensure they are.

Don’t encourage them to dodge traffic, to make them worry if they will make it to the other side, or wonder if they’re about to get their behind “clipped” by the wing mirror of the car that just can’t wait for them to make it beyond the bonnet.

If we need a more selfish reason to wait, how about if a policeman sees you break the rules, you could be warned, fined, be given points, or even be done for careless driving.

I hope plenty of drivers will take heed and I will be eating chicken rather than playing it at lunchtime.