pedestrian – The Wise Drive

June 23, 2022June 22, 2022

Stopping For Pedestrians

Q: What is the law for how long you are supposed to stay stopped when someone in a crosswalk has passed in front of you and is near the sidewalk on the other side of the street? I asked this because almost daily I will be behind a car that waits until the person is on the sidewalk on the other side.

A: When I first read your question I assumed that the car you’re behind almost daily is some random different driver each time. When I read it again, I wondered if you’re actually stuck behind the same driver; maybe you both have the same route on your morning commute, and you’re continually in the same situation with the same person. (Now I’m imagining that it’s the same pedestrian too. How far can I take this?) If that’s the case, you could avoid the whole situation by leaving for work a minute earlier, but that wouldn’t solve the underlying question, would it?

April 14, 2022April 13, 2022

Wheelchairs On And Off The Sidewalk

Q: How does someone in a wheelchair follow the law about using sidewalks if a sidewalk doesn’t have any sort of ramp to make it accessible for a wheelchair?

A: This question provides an opportunity to note the progress we’ve made in the area of mobility for people with disabilities. Do we have room to grow? Oh, yeah. Are we perfect? No way. Still, the response to this answer as recently as 1989 would be quite different from the answer today.

In order to understand the law, we need to define our terms, so let’s start there. In 1959, when Washington law first provided a legal definition for pedestrian it was “any person afoot.” I don’t know about you, but when I hear “afoot” I think of the line from the greatest time travel movie of all time, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, when Ted says, “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” Anyway, back then the legal definition of pedestrian was similar to the one in the dictionary: a person going on foot.

December 9, 2021December 8, 2021

Sharing The Bike Lane With Walkers

Q: I live in an area where bikes lanes are present on both sides of the road, but there are no sidewalks. I was taught to always walk against car traffic. That also means walking against bike traffic. If I see a bike coming, I edge to my left to allow them to pass me on the right. I have had some experiences with bike riders not yielding any space, or worse, forcing me into the street. I have also seen a lot of walkers walking with traffic. What are the rules with regard to pedestrians and bicyclists using bike lanes in areas where there are no sidewalks? Also, what are the rules regarding pedestrian directionality with regard to traffic?

A: In the classic western movie High Noon, there’s an iconic scene moments before the villains arrive when Marshal Will Kane walks alone down the main street through Hadleyville, the sole person responsible for the safety of his town. Do you know which side of the road he walks down? It doesn’t matter, because the story takes place before cars and bicycles were invented. From a traffic safety perspective, we may long for those simpler times. In this modern era, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers sometimes share the same space, and there’s a clear imbalance in outcomes if it doesn’t all go well. Of course, in those simpler times we didn’t have penicillin and the average life expectancy was 42, so there are some tradeoffs.

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

Stopping For Pedestrians: You Should Do It.

Q: I frequently see vehicles stop in moving traffic to allow pedestrians to cross outside a crosswalk. I know they are just being courteous but doesn’t that create a more dangerous situation for the pedestrian? Can you advise us on the rules of crossing and when it’s appropriate, if ever, to go outside them?

A: From the context of your question, I think we’re talking here about pedestrians crossing the street mid-block, but there’s also the possibility that there’s a misunderstanding about crosswalks, so let’s address that first. Some folks might think a crosswalk is created by painting white stripes at an intersection. Actually though, the crosswalk was there before any paint was sprayed. A crosswalk is the ten foot wide strip that connects the corners of an intersection, whether it’s been marked by paint or not.

February 4, 2021February 8, 2021

Right-Of-Way And The Right Thing To Do

Q: At an intersection, where the flow of traffic in question does not have a stop sign, and there are several cars flowing through it, does a pedestrian have the right to step off the curb to cross as long as it does not cause an “immediate” hazard? Who has the right-of-way?

A: I’ll get to the actual answer in a moment, but I want to lead with this: Don’t hit the pedestrian. Yep, you already knew that, I know. My point here is that there is the right-of-way, and then there’s the right thing to do.

We often talk about who has the right-of-way, but that’s really a distortion of the language in our laws. The law doesn’t define who has the right-of-way; it states who must yield the right-of-way. Maybe that sounds like two different ways of saying the same thing, but there is a difference. Think of right-of-way as something floating out there in the universe that you can never take for yourself, but you’re free to give to someone else. Okay, now it sounds like I’m writing a new age self-help book. But the point still stands.

December 23, 2020December 22, 2020

Saving Pedestrians With Your Headlights

Q: I’m concerned about pedestrians getting killed on the road. I think the lack of use of high beam lights is likely the cause of the drivers not seeing the pedestrians. I have a problem for you to solve. How far do typical low beam lights light the road ahead and how long does it take the average driver to stop their car traveling at 50 mph? Could these lives have been spared had the drivers just used their high beam lights?

A: Having just experienced the darkest day of the year (we always call it the shortest day, but it’s still 24 hours long so that’s not really accurate is it?) it seems appropriate to talk about headlights. With over 15 hours of darkness in every day this week, there’s a good chance that some of your driving will be in the dark.

March 24, 2019March 25, 2019

HAWK Spotting

This week I’m attempting to exercise my psychic abilities by answering a question before it gets asked. Here’s the question I’m expecting to arrive in my in-box any day now: What am I supposed to do with the crazy new lights that just got installed on Lakeway Drive?

The city of Bellingham is completing four more HAWK traffic signals, located along and around Lakeway Drive, and while there are already a few of them in Bellingham (on Alabama Street) they may still be unfamiliar to a lot of drivers. Or maybe you recall hearing something about the HAWKs a couple years ago when the first ones went in, but since you don’t drive on Alabama you either ignored or forgot about HAWK signals. Either way, here’s a refresher on the HAWK traffic signals.

March 3, 2019February 27, 2019

The Shortest Route Isn’t Always The Best Route

Q: Is it legal to walk on the east bound side of the Bakerview I-5 overpass? Also that side has no extra guard rail above the concrete barrier. Isn’t that dangerous for motorcycles and bicycles? Couldn’t they potentially get hit and go flying onto the freeway?

A: Have you ever visited a college campus and seen footpaths through grassy fields created by students who chose the shortest route to their next class, even if that means disregarding the available paved paths? There is a (likely apocryphal) story about Dwight Eisenhower who, while president of Columbia University, had a solution to this problem. He recommended that rather than pour sidewalks when new buildings were built, the school should just plant grass and after the students have worn trails in the grass, put the sidewalks there. Many people claim that this story belongs not to Columbia, but to the university they attended, proving that this wasn’t a problem limited to one school; it is a universal human behavior. Whether we give Eisenhower credit for the story or consider it an urban legend, the premise is real; humans will, given the option, take the shortest route to their destination.

January 20, 2019January 18, 2019

Learning How To Walk

Q: Washington law states that when sidewalks are not provided, pedestrians shall walk only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic and upon meeting an oncoming vehicle shall move clear of the roadway. Why is this law seldom enforced or ever publicized?

A: Walking along the road with your back toward traffic is, as you clearly quoted from the law, illegal. And it’s a bad idea. If you’re sharing the road with 4000 pound projectiles, I’d think you’d want to see them coming. But is it the worst idea? It seems like we have a good opportunity here to investigate the greatest safety risks to pedestrians. Let’s work through the list of common factors in pedestrian fatal crashes. (Data is from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unless noted otherwise.)