What????
I find the exact opposite. There's a sort of field around me that causes pedestrians to suddenly change direction and veer into my path. The nearer they are to me, the stronger the field, so the faster the change of direction.
It's the same for cyclists that I'm trying to overtake. They're just cruising along in a straight line, but exactly when I get to the point of no-return, they suddenly change direction for no explicable reason, and always into my path - never the other way. Please don't say "ring your bell or sound a horn". That's absolutely fatal. They start to move out the way, so I start my overtake, when suddenly, they panic and decide that they want to be on the other side of the path, so they veer across when it's too late.
It's the same with pedestrians, especially when there's several of them. You ring the bell as you slow down. If your lucky, one of them will hear it and tells the others, so they spread out to the verges either side of the path. You say "thanks" and start to go through the gap, when, suddenly, one of them decides that they want to be on the other side. I don't know how many near misses I've had like that.