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> Without lights, pedestrians would always have first priority on a crosswalk. Cars would have to stop for any pedestrian crossing the street. Traffic lights i
by blattimwind 7y ago
> Without lights, pedestrians would always have first priority on a crosswalk. Cars would have to stop for any pedestrian crossing the street.
Traffic lights in combination with a pedestrian crossing proper (a zebra crossing) seem to be rather rare, at least in Europe. Thus most crossing points of pedestrian would, in absence of traffic lights, not give them the right of way, because crossing traffic generally does not have the right of way. Traffic crossing from something other than a street never has the right of way.
So I don't see at all how "lights are in gross contrast to the rights of pedestrians".
- trunc 7y agoPedestrians had the right of way before the cars existed
- blattimwind 7y agoNo, historically carriages have held the right of way, and the higher their occupants social status the more right of way they had.
- trmsw 7y agoWell technically it's priority not right of way. My guess is that the concept was only codified with the introduction of traffic laws, which in most places didn't happen before the 20th century. Until then, "priority" in land probably came down to common sense: size, conventions, and social status.
- jessaustin 7y agoYes, horses take priority. That's true on nature trails too. Automobiles don't inherit anything from horses and horse-drawn carriages.
- trunc 7y agoPedestrians existed before carriages, too
- andrewaylett 7y agoIn the UK, the Highway Code rule 8 ( https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-pedestrians-1-to-35#rule8 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-pedes... ) points out that pedestrians crossing the road have priority over turning vehicles.
- blattimwind 7y ago> pedestrians crossing the road have priority over [vehicles turningo into the road they are crossing] Yes, that's what I wrote. "Crossing traffic" refers to traffic crossing your road. In general, traffic that follows your road always has priority over you making a turn. Hence if you make a left turn you have to yield to oncoming traffic, and pedestrians going straight on the left. Similarly, if you make a right turn, you have to yield to the pedestrians going straight on your right. (When you make a right turn, there should be no way for someone (motorcycle, bicycle) to drive on the right of you, since you are supposed to be the rightmost thing on the road. Obviously you still have to watch out for bicyclists driving on the sidewalk.) For the same reason you have to yield to pedestrians crossing your exit when leaving a roundabout, even if they don't have a zebra crossing.
- saberdancer 7y agoI'm not sure I follow. Zebra crossing = pedestrian right of way, but the pedestrian should acknowledge the driver. This means that on the zebra crossing pedestrian has right of way, except when there is a pedestrian traffic light. Not sure that traffic lights with zebra crossings are rare in Europe? Most intersections in cities are like that at least where I visited.