What Was She Thinking?

Sixty-some years ago two post-war, baby-boom parents began teaching their son about looking both ways before crossing a road, and then proceeding only if it was safe. Since they did not live in a city, they didn’t worry too much about teaching him about crosswalks. It was almost an after-thought, but when they did spend time in cities they taught him to use crosswalks when he needed to cross the street. But the rules of looking both ways and proceeding when safe were the bedrock procedure they taught.

A dozen years or so ago some (possibly) well-meaning legislator decided that pedestrians on a crosswalk should have the right-of-way over oncoming traffic, and he or she persuaded a majority of lawmakers to go along with this. At the stroke of a pen, common sense had a stroke.

Since I first heard about this new, upside-down law giving pedestrians in a crosswalk the right-of-way I have been worried about its unintended consequences. I have adjusted my driving to accommodate it, but I have not changed my street-crossing algorithm. Just because I can step out into oncoming traffic if I step into a crosswalk, that does not change my internal wiring. I still look both ways and proceed only when it’s safe. And I still use crosswalks when I have to cross a street in a city.

Yesterday I was driving home from a camping trip towing my 2-and-a-half ton travel trailer. I was traveling below the speed limit (30MPH) in the City of Canandaigua. I was on a side street. I was paying attention to my driving, but there was also a lot going on inside the car, with my wife on the phone and my 5-year-old granddaughter in the back chattering away. As I got near one of the many crosswalks in the city my eyes did pick up a pedestrian on the left, approaching the crosswalk. I was close enough to the crosswalk that I decided that it would be unsafe to try to stop. My total weight with trailer and truck was close to 10,000 pounds (5 tons.) No matter what, it takes a pretty good distance to stop 10,000 pounds moving along at nearly 30 miles per hour.

Yes; this pedestrian did look me in the eye and yes, there was a look of defiance there as she stepped out into the crosswalk.

-Speak

Seeking Advice

SpeakEasy
Explorer
Jul 31, 2016
rollexx wrote:
With all due respect I think you are mistaken. As others have said, the law is as old as the auto.
You suggest in your post that the law is "upside down". That is just plan wrong.
That's not to say pedestrians don't have to use common sense when crossing the street.
In this case the pedestrian perhaps didn't. I don't know I wasn't there.

OP here.

I think you're missing the point.

Of course pedestrians have the right of way. That's a no brainer. Who would argue otherwise?

But the situation here in NY is that there are now signs all over the place on crosswalks informing everyone that traffic must yield to pedestrians. That has led to pedestrians adopting the attitude that they can just step out into the crosswalk and cars MUST IMMEDIATELY STOP for them. Never mind that the traffic was humming along smoothly before they decided to step out into it. Never mind that a moving vehicle requires x amount of feet to stop from the moment the driver applies the brakes. The attitude is that if I, as a pedestrian, step foot in a crosswalk, all traffic will immediately come to a halt.

In this case, the pedestrian was NOT in the crosswalk as I was driving toward it, and my momentum was great enough that I felt it would be unsafe to try to stop BEFORE she entered the crosswalk. If she had hesitated even a second before entering the crosswalk I would have been well beyond it. But no. She looked me in the eye, stepped into the crosswalk right in front of me, and I had to come to a screeching halt to keep from flattening her.

-Speak
wilber1
Explorer
Jul 31, 2016
The purpose of crosswalks is to give pedestrians a safe place to cross. Yes they have the right of way, if they didn't, there would be no reason to have them. When did pedestrians not have the right of way in a crosswalk? Not in my lifetime, at least where I live.
2oldman
Explorer II
Jul 30, 2016
camperforlife wrote:
.. He stepped in front of a delivery truck that never had a chance to even touch his brakes. The police really grilled the driver since a death was involved but I was a more than willing witness to help save the drivers hide.
Dash cams will become standard equipment if not already.
rollexx
Explorer
Jul 30, 2016
With all due respect I think you are mistaken. As others have said, the law is as old as the auto.
You suggest in your post that the law is "upside down". That is just plan wrong.
That's not to say pedestrians don't have to use common sense when crossing the street.
In this case the pedestrian perhaps didn't. I don't know I wasn't there.
camperforlife
Explorer
Jul 30, 2016
2 years ago in Vegas I watched a pedestrian lose at his worst gamble of the day. He stepped in front of a delivery truck that never had a chance to even touch his brakes. The police really grilled the driver since a death was involved but I was a more than willing witness to help save the drivers hide. 2 days later I saw a worker fall off the MGM Grand sign, that was quite a trip.
4x4van
Explorer III
Jul 29, 2016
In CA, crosswalks do not need to be painted; EVERY intersection is assumed to have a crosswalk. Pedestrians also have the right of way anywhere in the street, not just crosswalks, although, like another poster said, the law also says that pedestrians cannot just walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impractical for the driver to yield. And that applies whether they are crossing in a crosswalk or midblock.
jnharley
Explorer
Jul 28, 2016
My DIL and grandson had a very close call. Totally their fault too. They were both looking at their phones and walking in a convention center parking lot and proceeded into the road without looking, expecting traffic to stop for them (not in cross walk). A SUV did not stop and if I had not grabbed them, they would have been flattened. No big deal to them but it was so close, I thought I would be going to a funeral.
2oldman
Explorer II
Jul 28, 2016
proxim2020 wrote:
I'm guessing you're saying that you have made such a stop at a different time. If she had heard those screeching tires.."
Yes, it must have been a different time from the OP.
Community Alumni
Jul 28, 2016
SpeakEasy wrote:

Well, actually I DID make a panic stop, complete with screeching tires, and that's what led to this conversation.
-Speak

Sorry. I didn't get that from the original post. I'm guessing you're saying that you have made such a stop at a different time. If she had heard those screeching tires then maybe it will trigger something in her mind next time she comes up to a crosswalk. "Remember the time you almost got hit by that big truck and trailer? Maybe I should use some caution this time."
dodge_guy
Explorer II
Jul 28, 2016
Once you step out into moving traffic your life is in your hands! And I mean just step out like a car can stop from 30 in a foot! Yes drivers have always had to yield to pedestrians that is a no brainier! The other no brained is to look for cars before crossing. I believe a pedestrian should yield to moving traffic. After that a vehicle has to yield to pedestrian traffic.

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What Was She Thinking?

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