Tag: pedestrians

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Navigating Through Construction Zone Signs

Q: Are there any requirements for the use and/or placement of signage to warn drivers when construction affects the flow of traffic? Who is responsible for setting up the signs?

A: Oh yes, there are requirements. Pages and pages of requirements. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), which Washington has adopted as its rule book for signs, signals, road markings has nearly 200 pages devoted to what it calls Temporary Traffic Control (TTC). That’s the official term for signs used during construction or other scenarios that require a short-term change in traffic patterns, such as a crash that blocks traffic or a truckload of salmon that spills onto the highway. Continue reading “Navigating Through Construction Zone Signs”

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What’s a HAWK, and How Does It Work?

Q: More education appears to be needed regarding the “HAWKS” on Alabama Street. Two days ago, two police officers in Bellingham patrol cars were observed traveling in opposite directions on Alabama. They both stopped at an activated hawk and were each first in line in their respective lanes. Once the hawk began flashing red and the pedestrians had cleared the crosswalk, the officers remained stopped until the hawk entered the OFF mode. Should they not have proceeded once the crosswalk was clear and the hawk was flashing red?

A: Clearly, if some of our local officers are unsure of how to proceed through HAWK signals, the message of navigating the HAWKs has not penetrated deep enough into the community. The City of Bellingham has some great HAWK-related resources on their website, but I’ll try another way of explaining it that helps me remember what to do at a HAWK. Continue reading “What’s a HAWK, and How Does It Work?”

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Bicycle Round-Up Part 3

Here’s the long-awaited (or maybe long-forgotten) part three of what I originally thought was a two-part series on bicycle questions.

1. Can a car drive in a bike lane? I sometimes see cars driving in the bike lane to pass a car turning left. Is that legal? How does a car make right turn across a bike lane?

A car is not allowed to drive in a bike lane except when making a right turn. That includes no passing on the right to get around a car turning left.

Now for the tricky part of the question: making a right turn across a bike lane. You may have noticed the variety of ways that bike lanes are marked approaching an intersection. Sometimes the solid white line that separates the cars from the bike riders stays solid. Sometimes it turns into a dashed line. Sometimes it ends completely about 50 feet before the intersection. Continue reading “Bicycle Round-Up Part 3”

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Crosswalks – Part 2

Previously we answered the original question about when motorists are supposed to stop at crosswalks, but I want to go a few steps further and look at pedestrian duties, crosswalk enforcement and survival skills. Let’s begin with rules for pedestrians crossing the street; first in crosswalks and then at other locations. At crosswalks pedestrians really only have one rule: Don’t run out in front of a car, making it impossible for the driver to stop in time. Again, seems obvious. However, have you ever seen a pedestrian step into a crosswalk, right in front of a car, because sending a text message was higher priority than checking for traffic? Cars are required to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in crosswalks, but that doesn’t relieve the pedestrian of the requirement to pay attention and have reasonable expectations about how much distance it takes a car to stop. Continue reading “Crosswalks – Part 2”

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Crosswalks – Part 1

Q: Crosswalks Part One: Can you please explain crosswalks, and when motorists are supposed to stop, including unmarked crosswalks?

A: Ah, yes, crosswalks. On the surface it seems so obvious; when a pedestrian is in a crosswalk, drivers should stop. But there’s more to it than that, including the question, “What is a crosswalk?” Until I read the definition of a crosswalk in the Revised Code of Washington years ago, I thought a crosswalk was the white paint on the road that pedestrians used to get across intersections. While that is a crosswalk, it is not the only kind. When you approach an intersection and see the stripes just beyond the stop line, you’re seeing a marked crosswalk. However, if you were to come to an intersection without the painted crossing markings, you’d still be approaching a crosswalk, but in this case it would be an unmarked crosswalk. Confused yet? Just remember that painted on the road or not, that ten foot wide strip between where you’re supposed to stop at an intersection and where the lanes of travel cross over each other is a crosswalk. Continue reading “Crosswalks – Part 1”