Marked or Unmarked Crosswalk

Question

Mischa asked: If a motor vehicle is driving down road A and turns right on red onto road B, and a bicycler is also riding on the sidewalk of road A and continues across road B without stopping or using a crosswalk and they crash, whose fault is it? Who would be responsible for yielding in this situation? The bicyclist who has no crosswalk and didn’t stop to see if a vehicle was turning onto the road he was trying to cross, or the vehicle that turned right on red but didn’t look down the sidewalk to see if anyone was coming? I ask because this exact situation happened to me this morning and luckily the accident was avoided. I am now worried and curious to know who has the right of way. Also, if the light was green and the motor vehicle turned right on green would that change who was responsible?

Answer

It seems the motorist with the red light (or green light if there was no pedestrian signal requiring the cyclist to stop or yield) must yield to the bicyclist under these circumstances.

A bicyclist in a crosswalk (See definition below) has the rights and duties of a pedestrian under the same circumstances.

s. 316.2065 – Bicycle Regulations

(9) A person propelling a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, has all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.

A motorist must yield to pedestrians and bicyclists in a crosswalk unless a traffic control device is present and indicates otherwise.

s. 316.130Pedestrians; Traffic Regulations

(7)(a) The driver of a vehicle at an intersection that has a traffic control signal in place shall stop before entering the crosswalk and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian, with a permitted signal, to cross a roadway when the pedestrian is in the crosswalk or steps into the crosswalk and is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.

(b) The driver of a vehicle at any crosswalk where signage so indicates shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross a roadway when the pedestrian is in the crosswalk or steps into the crosswalk and is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.

(c) When traffic control signals are not in place or in operation and there is no signage indicating otherwise, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping if need be to so yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger. Any pedestrian crossing a roadway at a point where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.

A crosswalk at an intersection need not be marked as such to compel compliance to the above. The connection of the sidewalk areas across the roadway, whether marked or unmarked is a legal crosswalk, and motorists must stop and yield at such crosswalks to pedestrians and bicyclists as indicated above.

s. 316.003 – Definitions

(6) Crosswalk

(a) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway, measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway.

2 Comments on “Marked or Unmarked Crosswalk

  1. But Mischa wrote the cyclist had “no crosswalk”. If no crosswalk was marked, a legal (unmarked) crosswalk would still be present, unless signing somehow indicated it was closed. With no marked crosswalk, though, there was presumably no pedestrian signal for that leg of the intersection. In that case, a pedestrian on the Road A sidewalk who wanted to cross Road B would have be subject to the traffic signal facing same-direction traffic on the Road A roadway (s. 316.075, F.S.). In other words, the pedestrian’s “permitted signal” mentioned in s. 316.130(7)(a) would be a green indication on the traffic signal.

    If the driver on Road A “turned right on red,” apparently the signal was displaying a red indication. If no pedestrian signal is present, a pedestrian facing a red indication “shall not enter the roadway” (s. 316.075(1)(c)2b).

    If the light was green, a pedestrian (or sidewalk cyclist) would be permitted to proceed, and a right-turning motorist would be required to yield to the crosswalk user (s. 316.075(1)(a)2) and s. 316.130(7)a).

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