Back in February, I wrote about the NY laws regarding pedestrians and vehicles. My friends who drive everywhere give me a blank stare when I go on a bender about pedestrian safety. But here I go again with another reminder to watch for things other than cars when driving, especially now that more people are out and about on feet, bikes, scooters and skateboards.

Intersections, driveways and alleys:
We hear from people who walk a lot around here that intersections and driveways are hairy places. Drivers don’t expect to see them when they back out of their narrow city driveways and almost mow them down. And when it comes intersections, the pedestrians usually end up yielding to vehicles.

My husband was walking to work last week at about 7:30AM along East Ave where lots of people walk and bike (many thanks to the traffic calming project years ago). He was almost hit while crossing an intersection by a driver who was not paying attention. Well, the driver was paying to traffic coming from the left (he was turning right), but clearly wasn’t thinking there would be pedestrians. I had a similar experience further down East Avenue the week prior close to the East Ave Wegmans mid-day. A driver watched for only traffic one way and didn’t see that I was already in the intersection when she pulled up. In both cases, we pedestrians were paying attention and recognized there was trouble ahead and planned accordingly.

Most drivers don’t ignore pedestrians intentionally; we all get focused on driving and where we need to go when we are behind the wheel. It’s easy to forget that there is a world of activity going on around us. And we all need to pay attention and think ahead, regardless of what mode of transportation we are using.

So here’s the reminder part:

When you are turning at an intersection and someone is walking on the sidewalk, the person on foot has the right of way.

And in case you were about to ask, speeding ahead and cutting the pedestrians off is not giving them the right of way. Yes, yielding to let someone cross will add perhaps 30 seconds to your drive time, but it takes more effort to walk than it does to put your foot on the gas pedal. And your car even at the lowest of speeds can really hurt someone. I need reminding of this when I’m driving too, especially when I’m in a hurry. So I’m not pointing fingers.

Yielding to pedestrians isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s the law. So remember people live around here.

From the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee website:
“The driver of a vehicle, when entering or exiting from an alleyway, building, private road or driveway must yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian on a sidewalk [Section 1151-a, NYS Vehicle & Traffic Law].