Last week I was visiting some family in Burke and while driving back to Tysons on Braddock Road I witnessed an extremely dangerous traffic situation. Just after the intersection for Wakefield Chapel Road there is a crosswalk striped mid-block that leads from a perpendicular trail to a bus stop on the side of the raod. The crosswalk has a forewarning pedestrian crossing sign and at the crosswalk itself there is a pedestrian crossing here sign (with arrow).
As I was driving, about 1/4 mile away from the location of the crosswalk, which wasn’t visible to me at this point, I started seeing brake lights in the left lane. I slowed down accordingly, wondering what was going on. Then I saw the middle lane come to a complete stop. There was no one in the far right lane at this point. All of a sudden one of the cars pulls out from behind the head car in the middle lane, gets into the right lane, and zips off.
As I pulled in behind the stopped vehicles it became clear to me that they were stopping for a pedestrian, crossing at the crosswalk, who had to cross 6 lanes of high speed Braddock Road… which when cars are stopped makes it almost a blind walk across the street to oncoming traffic. So who was right? Should the vehicles have come to a full stop, or should the drivers continue at speed leaving the pedestrian waiting for a gap to cross the road.
The law is pretty clear on this:
§ 46.2-924 from Code of Virginia
The governing body of Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and any town therein, the City of Alexandria, the City of Fairfax, and the City of Falls Church may by ordinance provide for the installation and maintenance of highway signs at marked crosswalks specifically requiring operators of motor vehicles, at the locations where such signs are installed, to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing or attempting to cross the highway. Any operator of a motor vehicle who fails at such locations to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians as required by such signs shall be guilty of a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of no less than $100 or more than $500. The Department of Transportation shall develop criteria for the design, location, and installation of such signs. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any limited access highway.
It was illegal for the vehicle to pull out in front of the waiting cars and zip by at the presence of a crosswalk with pedestrian. One could argue that the vehicle may have had a blind spot with regard to the pedestrian, but being the second car to the front makes that unlikely. Regardless, a vehicle should not evade and pull a dangerous lane change maneuver without understanding why vehicles are stopped ahead. At its core it may relate to the fact that many people don’t know the laws that govern the use of our public roads. Heck, I wasn’t sure if stopping for pedestrians at these signs were either law or common courtesy. I think most drivers have no idea that they must come to a full stop on a right turn on red, and certainly don’t realize in this situation the pedestrian has the right of way.
Part of the solution can be better road design. Avoid constant prioritization of high speeds and throughput in populated areas where pedestrian access to transit is directly adjacent to roadways. Planners and transportation officials should provide more than a dull painted cross walk and small sign when it comes to lethal implications. A few thousand dollars spent on electronic warning or lighting provides a greater indication to a driver that they must proceed cautiously and that they do not have the right of way when pedestrians are present.
All of the changes to how we implement designs are improvements, but we have thousands of points of pedestrian to vehicle crossings that there is not enough money to correct in a timely manner. Part of the solution must be cost effective education to remind people what the traffic laws are. That should come from unbiased sources that have all entities’ interests at heart (not AAA).
Our set of traffic laws and sign vocabulary were created decades ago, prior to much of the sub-urbanization that occurred in the country. What was common place and understood on a 1 mile drive from the corner market back home in town, has become more rare in a world of super highways, on ramps, and mega infrastructure. As the country pushes back to more sensible design standards that preserve main street, it will rest on the shoulders of planners and designers to mitigate the lost societal knowledge that has occurred in the meanwhile.