Who would be at fault? Pedestrian question.

[Anonymous]

I make a left turn to get to my office across 2 lanes of traffic. It is at an intersection with a traffic light and crosswalks with walk/no walk lights. This morning I was going to make the turn - I have a green light and the no walk sign is lit but a pedestrian just starts to walk out into the street (of course not paying attention, nose in their phone and earpods in) at the same time that I am turning. I slam on my brakes and a car is coming towards me to go straight through the intersection then has to slam on their brakes, almost hitting me. If the truck approaching the intersection were to hit me because I'm stopped in the middle of the intersection due to a pedestrian walking with a no walk sign, who would be at fault? Thankfully nothing happened this morning, but I feel like it's only a matter of time. There's a lot of foot traffic by my office and I always am on the lookout, but sometimes I have to act quickly to make the left due to traffic.

[Anonymous]

You.

[Anonymous]

In this case the pedestrian was at fault because they were crossing with the no walk sign. What they did was really dumb and clearly they almost caused an accident.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't really matter who is at fault if you get hit by another car. The pedestrian shouldn't have crossed but, in general pedestrians have a very short time to cross so I am sympathetic to the walker. You could have waited until the next light signal to go

[Anonymous]

This is exactly why protected green arrows for drivers are so dangerous for pedestrians. You're standing on the sidewalk, you see the green light and the cars moving, you assume that the walk signal is lit - but no, the walk signal isn't lit, because the traffic engineers have given priority to drivers who want to turn left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make a left turn to get to my office across 2 lanes of traffic. It is at an intersection with a traffic light and crosswalks with walk/no walk lights. This morning I was going to make the turn - I have a green light and the no walk sign is lit but a pedestrian just starts to walk out into the street (of course not paying attention, nose in their phone and earpods in) at the same time that I am turning. I slam on my brakes and a car is coming towards me to go straight through the intersection then has to slam on their brakes, almost hitting me. If the truck approaching the intersection were to hit me because I'm stopped in the middle of the intersection due to a pedestrian walking with a no walk sign, who would be at fault? Thankfully nothing happened this morning, but I feel like it's only a matter of time. There's a lot of foot traffic by my office and I always am on the lookout, but sometimes I have to act quickly to make the left due to traffic.

If you had a green left arrow, then there shouldn't have been anybody driving towards you to go straight through the intersection; they should have had a red light.

If you didn't have a green left arrow, then the walk sign should have been lit.

[Anonymous]

Did you have a green arrow (assume not because of the other car coming towards you?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why protected green arrows for drivers are so dangerous for pedestrians. You're standing on the sidewalk, you see the green light and the cars moving, you assume that the walk signal is lit - but no, the walk signal isn't lit, because the traffic engineers have given priority to drivers who want to turn left.

The intersection actually doesn't have a green arrow for me to turn left. Every light cycle ALL lights are red for pedestrians to cross in all directions with walk signals, and then the no-walk signs are lit. I know this because I also take the bus and use that same crosswalk a few days a week.

[Anonymous]

You would be at fault because you couldn't complete your turn when you entered the intersection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why protected green arrows for drivers are so dangerous for pedestrians. You're standing on the sidewalk, you see the green light and the cars moving, you assume that the walk signal is lit - but no, the walk signal isn't lit, because the traffic engineers have given priority to drivers who want to turn left.

The intersection actually doesn't have a green arrow for me to turn left. Every light cycle ALL lights are red for pedestrians to cross in all directions with walk signals, and then the no-walk signs are lit. I know this because I also take the bus and use that same crosswalk a few days a week.

If you're driving through an intersection with a Barnes Dance, then you need to be really hyper aware of pedestrians, since there are only Barnes Dances when there are LOTS of pedestrians. Everyone who is driving needs to drive more slowly, so that there's plenty of time to stop. It sounds like everybody did stop in time this morning, which is good.

[Anonymous]

Pedestrian was wrong but you would be at fault.

[Anonymous]

You

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why protected green arrows for drivers are so dangerous for pedestrians. You're standing on the sidewalk, you see the green light and the cars moving, you assume that the walk signal is lit - but no, the walk signal isn't lit, because the traffic engineers have given priority to drivers who want to turn left.

The intersection actually doesn't have a green arrow for me to turn left. Every light cycle ALL lights are red for pedestrians to cross in all directions with walk signals, and then the no-walk signs are lit. I know this because I also take the bus and use that same crosswalk a few days a week.

This is a really important distinction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pedestrian was wrong but you would be at fault.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pedestrian was wrong but you would be at fault.

This is correct.