I just came across another such scene (woman in a daze, barely being missed by zipping traffic) in "Children of the Damned" (1963).

There are at least two such scenes in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

Why? Why not? I can't read the director's mind and therefore can't say with absolute certainty that David Fincher chose to reference that scene in Malle's film. But the parallels of two visually isolated females wandering obliviously through traffic in a noirish mise-en-scene were close enough to put the question in my mind.
I happen to think that Kubrick must have seen Last Year at Marienbad and been deeply influenced by it, if only because he manages to evoke it so amazingly well in The Shining. I can't prove it but it makes sense to me as a filmgoer, visually and thematically, and recognizing such a link between filmmakers does give one a better insight into a director's work. Others may argue with this, and probably will, but they are entitled to their own views.
I didn't make the world! I barely live in it! -
Oscar Levant

Ok, then I ask again: What's similar about it? Why is Fight Club referencing this movie and not the (surely numerous) other films that include a character walking into traffic?
In any case, I think it's only worth pointing out such references if doing so brings something to the table, so even if it is a reference what's the point of it? What do we gain by recognizing it?
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The motivations of a particular character in a movie have no bearing, of course, on whether a director likes a particular scene and wants to borrow same for his own movie. POV shots, musical accompaniment, and the like can be varied to suit the occasion and need not be copied slavishly. My point was not that every movie scene depicting something is a copy or homage of some earlier movie, but that THIS one very likely was. Just sayin'.
I didn't make the world! I barely live in it! -
Oscar Levant

What's similar about it?
Filming Style/POV: The camera is directly behind Marla (to simulate The Narrator's POV) as she walks into traffic headed from the left of the frame to the right whereas the camera is to the side of Carala as the car moves toward it.
Character motivation/response: Marla does it because she doesn't care if she lives or dies whereas Carala is just very distracted. The cars very nearly hit Marla whereas the cars stop well short of Carala and only then does she notice that she's even in the street.
Plot: Shows that Marla is a character who doesn't care about her own life vs. shows that Carala is distraught.
Is every movie where a car nearly hits someone making an homage to every other movie where a car nearly hits someone? If the answer to that question is no (hint: it is) then the answer to your question is also no. If the answer to that question is yes then every movie made in the last one hundred years or more is nothing but a series of homages.
By the way, of course a film can feature homages/obvious influences, a good example of this would be the visually similar way that a character breaks through a door in The Phantom Carriage and The Shining.
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Thanks for pointing that out. For a while it seemed like everyone posting on this thread was dead set against the idea of ANY influence between filmmakers. As you say, it really is something that directors do all the time, and usually consciously. Maybe it's just film fans protecting what they think is their idol's turf.
I didn't make the world! I barely live in it! -
Oscar Levant

I had the exact same thought. It totally reminded me of the scene with marla in fight club. I don't see why it's such a far fetched idea to think maybe he saw this gallows flick, always thought the car part was cool, and then added it to his film. I'm pretty sure that is something that directors do all the time whether they call it a "homage" or not.
"WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW, huh?! WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW!"

As I said, "homage" was probably the wrong word to use. "Lifting" or STEALING, as it's better known, is more accurate. Directors lift shots or even entire scenes from older movies in order to punch up their own, though there may not be the slightest connection between such films otherwise.
I didn't make the world! I barely live in it! -
Oscar Levant

Attempting to make her walking across a busy street as lifting or an homage. It's too great a stretch.

Give what up?
I didn't make the world! I barely live in it! -
Oscar Levant

Just give it up.

Maybe homage was the wrong word to use. "Lift" or "boost" is probably more appropriate. The 2 films don't have anything in common, of course, other than that quick scene.
As to the girls dodging traffic, that wasn't what I meant to imply. I was thinking more of British dodgems, equivalent of American bumper cars, with many a close shave for any hapless human wandering about in real traffic.
"Mollymauk doesn't park. He makes lazy circles in the sky."

That's a pretty big stretch for an "homage" considering the two films have so little to do with each other (Fincher isn't Tarantino, he'd be more tactful with his homage and do it with some sort of thematic context in the least, not just reference for the sake of referencing). She isn't really "dodging traffic" just meandering about

Yeah, I'm so bad I kick my own ass twice a day.
-Creeper, the Hamburger Pimp from "Dolemite"