BBelow is the new pedestrian right of way ordinance I received from the Mayor. After sharing this with our neighbors it appears we need a new ordinance. If you read the ordinance carefully, the pedestrian doesn't actually have the right of way.
In plain English, vehicles are allowed through a crosswalk while a mother and baby are in the crosswalk as long as the vehicle is not about to hit them. It is also so poorly worded and vague that it would be impossible for a person waiting to enter a crosswalk to understand when they have the right of way.
Furthermore, how would an 8 year old child interpret this?
Like ordinances in many other towns, this should be very simple: Vehicles should be required to yield the complete right of way to a pedestrian attempting to cross the street. In California, drivers are ticketed for failing to stop when a pedestrian is waiting to enter the roadway. It's that simple. Anything less creates a false sense of safety where the pedestrian is forced to hope and pray that the driver will actually yield or stop.
If pedestrians are not sure whether an oncoming vehicle is going to stop, they don't step in front of the car. This creates a negative feedback. The rolling car makes the pedestrian unsure. The pedestrian doesn't step into the crosswalk. The driver continues through the crosswalk. Pedestrians still don't feel safe.
The ordinance must be revised.
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TRAFFIC (PEDESTRIAN RIGHT OF WAY IN MARKED CROSSWALKS)
ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 10:148 OF CHAPTER 126 (TRAFFIC) OF TITLE X OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF ANN ARBOR.
The City of Ann Arbor Ordains:
Section 1. That Section 10:148 of Chapter 126 of Title X of the Code of the City of Ann Arbor be amended to read as follows
10:148. Pedestrians crossing streets.
(a) No pedestrian shall cross a street at a location other than at a crosswalk into which vehicle traffic is then restricted by a traffic control device unless such crossing may be done safely and without interfering with motor vehicle and bicycle traffic on that street.
(b) No operator of a motor vehicle or bicycle shall interfere with pedestrian or bicycle traffic in a crosswalk into which vehicle traffic is then restricted by a traffic control device.
(c) When traffic-control signals are not in place or are not in operation, 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 on the half of the roadway on 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, but a pedestrian shall not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into a path of a vehicle that is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.
Section 2. That this Ordinance shall take effect on the tenth day following legal publication.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the Council of the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, adopted the foregoing ordinance at its regular session of May 5, 2008.
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