Oregon Cycling Magazine

by Ray Thomas

Safe access to the streets is a critical component in our movement away from reliance on inefficient and polluting automobiles and toward more use of walking, cycling and mass transit. Along with bike lanes, crosswalks are the key safety corridors facilitating access to roadways for non-motorized users. While Oregon has been a national leader in promoting non-motorized transportation, current Oregon law unfortunately endangers crosswalk users by forcing them to step into the street before oncoming cars are required to stop.

It is a familiar scene in Oregon to see pedestrians huddled on the curb next to a crosswalk afraid to step off the curb. Walkers, bicyclists, bladers and other pedestrians are placed in the difficult position of having a legal right-of-way in the crosswalk, but no safe way to exercise it and make the cars stop. Law enforcement of Oregon’s present crosswalk law is also difficult because there is no violation for a motorist’s failure to stop unless a pedestrian actually steps into traffic. In essence, current law creates a right without an effective remedy or clear enforcement.

The present law also presents a teaching dilemma for parents and teachers trying to teach good walking safety skills to school children. Children are taught not to go into the street when cars are coming, but there is no way to signal for cars to stop without entering the street. It is little wonder that the great majority of Oregon parents have decided that neighborhood streets are not safe enough to allow children to walk to school. The sad result is that Oregon’s school children learn that the only safe way to get around is inside of a car ¹.

These problems arise because current Oregon law (ORS 811.028) requires a pedestrian to “proceed”, “cross”, or “enter” a crosswalk – i.e. step out into traffic – in order to lawfully take the right of way. Intersections without a traffic control device are confusing for both drivers and pedestrians because it is never clear that a pedestrian is going to cross until the pedestrian actually steps out into the street. We need some way for crosswalk users to safely signal their intention to cross the street and be sure that approaching traffic is going to stop BEFORE the pedestrian steps into the path of approaching vehicles.

Fortunately, a simple solution already exists. In Europe, Norway has adopted a pedestrian hand-signal system – pedestrians hold up their hands to warn approaching motorists that a pedestrian is exercising the crosswalk right of way. And Norway has a lower rate of pedestrian fatalities than any Western European country except the Netherlands.²

Oregon’s fatality rate for pedestrians is double that of Norway. In 2004, The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS), correlated with Bureau of Census figures, reveal a pedestrian fatality fate of 12 deaths per 1,000,000 population for Oregon. Norway’s pedestrian fatality rate per 1,000,000 population is 6.7. A pedestrian has twice the change of being killed in Oregon than in Norway.³

The pedestrian hand-signal also provides a simple solution to a persistent law-enforcement problem in enforcing Oregon’s pedestrian crosswalk rights. Currently, when a police officer observes traffic speeding by pedestrians waiting at a crosswalk, there is no violation because pedestrians must, as discussed above, step off of the curb to trigger their right of way to cross the street. With the pedestrian hand signal, an observant police officer can spot and ticket motorists who fail to react, slow down and stop for pedestrians giving the proper hand-signal.

The new pedestrian hand-signal law proposed for the 2009 Oregon Legislature is significantly different from earlier legislative proposals. In 2007, the Oregon Senate passed, but the Oregon House rejected, SB 573, which would have applied the pedestrian hand-signal bill to all crosswalks, marked or unmarked. Some legislators objected to the congestion that could result from pedestrians using the hand signal during rush-hour traffic. Other legislators worried the bill would create driver confusion, arguing it too vaguely defined how close to the crosswalk a pedestrian must stand when giving the hand signal, and how far back from a crosswalk an approaching driver would be required to stop. Troublesome scenarios were offered, including kids standing on street corners raising a hand to wave to another child, causing motorists to be ticketed for failing to stop, or of motorists colliding when trying to stop quickly for a pedestrian hand signal. The new proposal solves each of these problems:

The new proposal limits the law to marked crosswalks, the type of crossings most frequently used on busy streets, near schools, residential areas for the elderly, hospitals, churches and other high-density pedestrian areas. The limitation to marked crosswalks will avoid potential “gridlock” from traffic brought to a stop on side streets and other low pedestrian-density areas. And, the new proposal provides neighborhood groups, schools, and planners the option of placing marked crosswalks strategically to create pedestrian transportation corridors to schools, hospitals, and other facilities. The new proposal also requires that the pedestrian stand next to, “adjacent to”, the crosswalk with a raised hand before vehicles are required to stop to prevent driver confusion or “accidental” signaling.

The new proposal only applies to motorists who are able to stop safely in time – a motorist does not have to stop if too close to a crosswalk to stop safely. This provision prevents confusion by motorists and reduces the potential for chain reaction collisions.

An Oregon pedestrian hand-signal law will serve as a national safety model reflecting our commitment to promote non-motorized traffic through inexpensive, practical safety innovations. If Oregon’s legislature accepts and passes the new law, Oregon will be sending a strong, positive signal welcoming pedestrians into a cooperative and safe shared use of the roadways. The new law will be easy to teach to young and old sidewalk users and easy for law enforcement to regulate and enforce. The proposed law would amend ORS 811.028 and is included here with proposed changes in bold.

Proposed Amendment to ORS 811.028

811.028 Failure to stop and remain stopped for pedestrian; penalty.

(1) The driver of a vehicle commits the offense of failure to stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian if the driver does not stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian when the pedestrian is:

(a) Proceeding in accordance with a traffic control device as provided under ORS 814.010 or crossing the roadway in a crosswalk, as defined in ORS 801.220; and

(b) In any of the following locations:

(A) In the lane in which the driver’s vehicle is traveling;

(B) In a lane adjacent to the lane in which the driver’s vehicle is traveling;

(C) In the lane into which the driver’s vehicle is turning;

(D) In a lane adjacent to the lane into which the driver’s vehicle is turning, if the driver is making a turn at an intersection that does not have a traffic control device under which a pedestrian may proceed as provided under ORS 814.010; or

(E) Less than six feet from the lane into which the driver’s vehicle is turning, if the driver is making a turn at an intersection that has a traffic control device under which a pedestrian may proceed as provided under ORS 814.010.

(F) The driver of a vehicle commits the offense of failure to stop for a pedestrian if the driver, with sufficient distance to stop in safety, fails to stop for a pedestrian standing in or adjacent to a marked crosswalk, whose hand and arm are raised toward oncoming traffic.

(2) For the purpose of this section, a bicycle lane or the part of a roadway where a vehicle stops, stands or parks that is adjacent to a lane of travel is considered to be part of that adjacent lane of travel.

(3) This section does not require a driver to stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian under any of the following circumstances:

(a) Upon a roadway with a safety island, if the driver is proceeding along the half of the roadway on the far side of the safety island from the pedestrian; or

(b) Where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead crossing has been provided at or near a crosswalk.

(4) The offense described in this section, failure to stop and remain stopped for a pedestrian, is a Class B traffic violation.

Footnotes

¹ Within the span of a single generation, the number of children walking and bicycling to school has dramatically declined. In 1969, approximately 50% of children walked or biked to school, and 87% of children living withing one mile of school traveled under their own power. Today fewer than 15% of children walk or bike to school.

² Better than the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Finland, Denmark, France, or Belgium.

³ Oregon’s 2004 rate would place it slightly below Italy and Great Britain, which has 11.5 fatalities per 1,000,000, among the worst in Europe, exceeded only by Spain with a rate of 15.7 pedestrian fatalities per 1,000,000.

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