Intersections with stop lights have the rights of way governed by the stop
lights and what they say.
Some intersections have the crosswalks marked only on one side. Pedestrians in
the unmarked crosswalk have the same rights. Hopefully drivers are not faked
out by the decision to mark only one of them and pay attention to that one
also. (My understanding. Still looking).
There's some confusing language. Maybe I confuse easily, but they talk about
intersections with marked crosswalks, were you stop for pedestrians in the
crosswalk. And they talk about intersections without marked crosswalks where
you stop for pedestrians. What do you do with a pedestrian in an intersection
with two crosswalks the car is crossing, but only one of them is marked?
Interestingly, I read that Minnesota is the only state where a driver needs to
stop for a pedestrian in any part of the roadway. Doesn't mean the pedestrian
isn't there illegally and can be charged. Havent found the legislative code or
documented rule for that yet.
It's my understanding (again) that you don't have to stop for a pedestrian
standing outside the roadway. At the edge, not in yet. And Pedestrian can't
legally step into roadway if a driver has no chance to stop (undefined). What a
balancing act!
I hate the sticks with red flags. Not universally available. I'd like to see a
standard promoted where outstretched hand is an indicator of intent. No
guessing. Standard or not, I'd suggest it.
I think traffic engineers, of which I once was one, kinda, failed in
establishing new standards once the pedestrian law changed the landscape. They
have standards for everything else, but this was a new input into existing
physical conditions, and the only way to meet the changing situation would have
been to change speed limits. Not sure 20mph was the right adaptation, but A
CHANGE was needed to maintain standards for reacting to things. No guts, not to
mention, despite all their protestations, I don't think pedestrians are on the
top of their list of concerns. They try, but I don't think they succeed as much
as they should.