Silent Approach

Had my first close encounter with a pedestrian stepping off the curb and right into my path tonight as I was leaving work. I was going fairly slow as I was approaching a stop sign. He was walking the same direction I was driving and was going to cross the street. I kept my eye on him and when he started veering towards the curb I was ready. I could have hit my little pedestrian notification device, which is activated by pulling the turn signal stalk towards you. But at that point it was a little too late and when I touched the brakes, the tires made enough noise that he looked up and stopped. He was never in any danger, but it proves that you have to watch for such things when moving at low speeds near people.