1/2 lane if they're going away; more if pedestrians are moving toward you!
How Much Space Between Your Car and Pedestrians
Closed Caption
Introduction
- Have you ever seen other drivers charging pedestrians? It's incredibly dangerous, and if you're on a driving test, you're definitely going to fail.
Today, we're going to be tips and strategies to increase pedestrian safety and reduce your chances of being involved in a crash.
Stick around, we'll be right back with that information.
Welcome back, Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about pedestrian safety.
Pedestrians Make Up Almost ¼ of all Traffic Deaths
Pedestrians and other vulnerable road users make up 25% of traffic deaths.
Pedestrians alone make up almost 17% of traffic deaths.
And in 2018, the number of traffic deaths involving pedestrians spiked causing concern amongst trade traffic authorities.
75% of those pedestrian deaths happened at night.
So for pedestrians, never step out into a crosswalk at an intersection assuming that traffic is going to stop or that the driver has in fact seen you.
For drivers, know that at all intersections, whether they're controlled or uncontrolled pedestrians have the right of way.
So give way to pedestrians at intersections.
Always Walk Facing Traffic
For pedestrians, make sure that if you're walking along a roadway that doesn't have a sidewalk, make sure that you're facing traffic.
Make sure that you're listening because the other theory about why pedestrian deaths have increased is because they're wearing headphones or they're on their cell phone.
Sound is Your Most Important Tool is Staying Safe in Traffic
So know that that sound is incredibly important and that you can hear traffic approaching or cars approaching and then you can move farther off the roadway.
And for pedestrians at crosswalks, whether mid-block or at an intersection, if you're the least bit unsure, make sure that you get eye contact with the driver and know that he or she is going to stop.
And if you're the least bit unsure, just wave them on and let them go.
How Much Space Between Your Vehicle & the Walker?
For new drivers and those drivers preparing for a test in residential areas, you must give one lane of space between you and the pedestrian.
So if the pedestrian is crossing the road here and you want to make a left hand turn here, you must wait for the pedestrian to attain the curb on this side.
Same thing as if the pedestrian is going in the other direction, you must also wait for the pedestrian here to attain the curb before you can proceed.
If you're turning right at the intersection, same thing, the pedestrian has to attain either curb depending on which direction they're going before you can proceed in a residential area.
If you are at a complex intersection and making a left-hand turn here and you were waiting to proceed here into the left hand turning lane and the pedestrian is going in this direction, you must give half a lane between your vehicle and the pedestrian before proceeding.
So the pedestrian has to attain the halfway point of this lane before you start making your left hand turn here.
If the pedestrian is coming towards you and there's a concrete barrier in the middle here, once the pedestrian attains the concrete barrier, then you can proceed with your left hand turn.
At complex intersections, when you're making a right-hand turn, if the pedestrian is approaching you, the pedestrian has to attain the curb before you can execute your right-hand turn.
Half A Lane of Space…But Only When They’re Going Away
If a pedestrian is going away from you in this direction, once the pedestrian gets to the halfway point of the lane beside the one that you're going to be turning into, you can begin your right-hand turn.
Now, if pedestrians are on the other side of the road and they're approaching in this direction, as long as they're on the other side of this concrete barrier in the middle here, then you can execute right-hand turn.
But once they're on this side, your side of the concrete barrier, then you need to wait for them to attain the curb because they're coming towards you and so to.
You're moving towards them and they're moving towards you, so you'll need to wait until they attain the curb or the traffic island if there is a traffic island there in the center of the road.
Where Do I Wait For Pedestrians?
When waiting for pedestrians to cross, you're going to wait here for the pedestrian to attain the position that you need them to safely make your turn.
Wait here with signal on, do not move up here and charge the pedestrian.
It's simply dangerous and you'll terrify the pedestrian.
If you do it to me, you'll incur my wrath, because it's my pet peeve in driving, when left turning vehicles charge pedestrians at the crosswalk.
If You Get Rear Ended, Are You Going to Strike the Pedestrian
When turning right, same thing, keep your vehicle straight, do not angle into the crosswalk.
You can move forward a little bit across the crosswalk and across the stop line, but wait for the pedestrian to either attain the curb or be half a lane away from you.
If it's a mid-block crosswalk, stop your vehicle so that you can see the line markings on the roadway that will give you about one vehicle length between you and the crosswalk, and then again, wait for the pedestrian to attain the curb before you proceed.
Turning right at a complex intersection with slip lanes or turning lanes and there's a crosswalk here, again, you want to stop back so that you can see the line markings on the roadway.
And again, that'll give you about a vehicle space between you and the pedestrians.
So you want to be able to see the lines over the top of the hood.
You can angle in a little bit here, that's inevitable because you're turning right.
That gives you some tips and strategies to keep pedestrian safe.
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Have a great day, bye now.
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