Have you ever pulled up to a traffic intersection and you see a pedestrian approaching the same intersection. You’ve got momentum and you’re so close that you’d never expect the pedestrian to actually step out and cross the street right in front of you? But then, without even looking left or right or up from their cell phone, they just plod right out there in front of you. If you’re not paying close attention, you would be lubing your vehicle with pedestrian.
I’ve seen this an awful lot these days, and that’s what I’m thinking are really silly people who that that pedestrians “have the right of way.”
It really baffles my mind at how stupid some people can act in that they keep walking into the street without even breaking their stride. What if someone is being “super self-important” and they’re busy on their cell phone yakking or texting? Are you aware that a car moving at 35 mph is covering about 51 feet a second? That is a lot of territory covered by a car that’s operated by someone not looking! And you’re willing to step out there? Awesome! (That was snark.)
To some degree, it’s a non-issue for myself. I tend to expect this kind of nonchalant, seemingly suicidal pedestrian behavior. In other words, I expect ‘stupid.’
I start to worry when I see a mother of 2 pushing a stroller out into the road with the same cavalier lack of concern though. Do they not even care or just plain stupid? It’s my humble opinion that it’s nuts to cross a street without looking up. As it stands, in a worse-case scenario, some poor sap will get sued by the pedestrian’s family and the pedestrian’s tombstone can read “But I had the right-of-way.”
But on the issue of “Thinking You Have The Right Of Way,” here in California, it’s an interesting set of laws that cover pedestrians:
Right-of-Way at Crosswalks
21950. (a) The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. (Pedestrians do have some rights.)
(b) This section does not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for his or her safety. No pedestrian may suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. No pedestrian may unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk. (Yet under the same law, they do indicate you don’t have THE right-of-way.)
They’ve even added an extra section in the laws:
21954. (a) Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.
In other words, if I’m driving along and you step out in an unsafe fashion with out looking up or taking care proceed when it is safe, you aren’t as protected as you think you are by the laws!
It’s something to think about the next time you’re out there walking around if you’re one of those folks thinking you have legal impunity on the streets of CA. But that’s just my opinion, from the guy whose had a heart attack or two from the driver’s seat
reference: CA DMV.
