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I think we need to recognise that a lot of developments have taken place since the days when people walked everywhere and pavements were predominantly for pedestrians. The inventions of the bicycle, prams, baby buggies, mechanised sweepers, skateboards, mobility scooters, etc, etc, mean that pavements are now a shared space and pedestrians need to get used to it and keep their wits about them.
The world moves on, as Tom's quote re the old adage "sail before steam" demonstrates. This was coined in the old days when sailing ships dominated the seaways and steamships were a new invention. The movement of the sailing ships was dictated by the wind and the steamships were in a better position to avoid them than vice versa.
The reverse is true today. A giant tanker, containership, or whatever, is seriously constrained in its ability to manoeuvre by virtue of its deep draft. If it is approaching a port up a narrow fairway, any movement out of that fairway will result in it running aground. If a yacht is messing about in the fairway, it is up to the yacht to get out of the way and pronto. It happens all the time. The deep draft ship has nowhere else to go and the yacht is acquainted with that fact by continuous blasts on the ships whistle and broadcasts on the VHF. The Rules of the Road have been rewritten to reflect this reality.