Hitting pedestrians

I was always taught from Kindergarten on up to stop before crossing the street and look both ways to make sure no cars were coming. Apparently no one in the town I live in ever was taught that, cause they don't stop or look, let alone give any clear indication that they are going to suddenly start walking in the street.
Where I live there are a lot of pedestrians. And the biggest complaint in town is how annoying it is that they walk into the road while you're driving past.
Some say that drivers should stop and let pedestrians meander in no direct line across the main street, that that's the law. But I don't think the problem is drivers not wanting to stop, I think it's the fact that pedestrians don't stop and look first.
I have seen it a million times and have almost had a heartattack as someone, who seems very focused on hustling down the sidewalk suddenly, without warning, veers into the road, not even stopping, looking or slowly their pace. I had it happen to me just yesterday. The person was not even five feet in front of me when suddenly they were in front of my car. I'm sorry, but I don't think it should be my fault if someone walks in front of a moving vehicle and gets hurt.
If they were a driver, it would be considered reckless driving to suddenly pull out into traffic without looking to see who was coming.
What's worse, they don't even seem to realize that there is a car or bike right there. And then they look at the driver with this shock and anger on their face. It's not like people are driving their vehicles on the sidewalk!
Rather than drivers getting the rap for not stopping for pedestrians, maybe it's about time pedestrians get ticketed for not following the rules of crossing the road.
And now that I'm about to be a scooter driver I worry, will I be able to move around them quickly enough without crashing? Hopefully I will notice them more since you naturally do when you are on a motorcycle or scooter, but will they notice me? And since they don't have the foresight to stop and look before crossing in front of a car will they have the intelligence and understanding to recognize that I can't stop as quickly as a car because I don't have the braking power.
I don't want to wipeout because some idiot didn't stop and look before stepping into traffic.