“What are the top ten things people do while driving that gets them pulled over?”
1) Speeding
2) Uninspected vehicles
3) Running stop signs
4) Defective equipment (headlight or taillight out, loud exhaust)
5) Swerving around (suspicion of DUI)
6) Failing to use a turn signal
7) Unregistered vehicles
8) Vehicles with the wrong license plate
9) Failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks
10) Tinted windows
If you have a question for the Brattleboro Police Ask-a-Cop, please email it to info@ibrattleboro.com and put “Ask-a-Cop” in the subject line.
Crosswalks
What are the specific laws around stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks?
pretty sure...
My understanding is that pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way.
My understanding is that...
I ditto that: “pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way.”
The “right of way” always, regardless of the situation or law statutes between a vehicle and a person. Right of way always exists even for pedestrians who fail to use a designated crosswalk –
No exceptions.
pedestrians
please cite your source. not always right according to
23 VSA § 1052.
Inherent Common Sense Provision
23 VSA § 1053. Drivers to exercise due care:
Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway, shall give warning by sounding the horn when necessary, and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused or incapacitated person upon a roadway. (Added 1971)
Driver Responsibilities: VT DMV Driver's Manual
:: Watch for pedestrians who are walking against a red light, stepping into traffic from between parked vehicles and crossing in locations where there is not a marked crosswalk.
:: Even when pedestrians cross the street carelessly, the driver must yield
and more from the statute
23 VSA § 1052. Crossing except at crosswalks
(a) Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than
within a marked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right
of way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
(b) Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at a point where a
pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been
provided shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the
roadway.
(c) Between adjacent intersections at which traffic-control
signals are in operation pedestrians shall not cross at any place
except in a marked crosswalk.
(d) No pedestrian may cross a roadway intersection diagonally
unless authorized by official traffic-control devices or an
enforcement officer. When authorized to cross diagonally,
pedestrians may cross only in accordance with the official
traffic-control devices or signal of an enforcement officer.
(Added 1971)
23 VSA § 1053. Drivers to exercise due care Notwithstanding
the provisions of this chapter every driver of a vehicle shall
exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon
any roadway, shall give warning by sounding the horn when
necessary, and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing
any child or any obviously confused or incapacitated person
upon a roadway. (Added 1971)
23 VSA § 1054. Pedestrians to use right half of crosswalks
Pedestrians may move, whenever practicable, upon the right half
of crosswalks only. (Added 1971)
23 VSA § 1055. Pedestrians on roadways (a) Where public
sidewalks are provided no person may walk along or upon an
adjacent roadway. (b) Where public sidewalks are not provided
any pedestrian walking along and upon a highway shall, when
practicable, walk only on the left side of the roadway or its
shoulder facing the direction of possible oncoming traffic.
(Added 1971)
23 VSA § 1058. Duties of pedestrians All pedestrians shall
obey the instructions of all traffic control devices which are
applicable to them, and all instructions of enforcement officers
relating to control of traffic. (Added 1971)
I would think that pedestrian "right of way" is self-evident
Will Stomp’s original question “What are the specific laws around stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks?” are contained in these statutes. The long and short is that I believe a driver can be fined roughly $200 for failing to stop for a pedestrian at a crosswalk. The law is rarely enforced, in part, because it is often a judgment call. A driver may not have enough time to stop for a pedestrian if they do not see them and connect with their desire to cross. Even with a police car behind you, both you and the police driver might not be able to fully ascertain the pedestrian’s exact intentions.
When Chris Grotke interjected the comment: “pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way…” i had recalled the VT state driver’s manual that described the driver’s responsibility as, in effect, that pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way, or more to the point that drivers in multi-ton vehicles must “Even when pedestrians cross the street carelessly, the driver must yield.”
The idea that “pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way” should be the topline priority in the street dance between a frail human and a massive piece of moving machinery.
I would think that is self-evident, regardless of statutes or community pressure for pedestrians to conform with exacting standards.
wrong plate
How would one know if there was a wrong license plate on a car? Expired sticker, sure… but checking a database to see if a plate is on a wrong car BEFORE pulling it over seems a bit like fishing…
Also, tinted windows? Alleged vampires on suspicion of avoiding sunlight? : )
You seem to have some seriously bad information.
A cop can run a name or a license plate anytime he likes. The modern big-city systems track who’s doing what to try to tamp down bad cops, but it helps only so far.
Further, license plates have a checksum–as do all credit cards–which a stupid forger may not be aware of.
Tinted windows? Did you not see the Reformer police report a year or two ago where a young man gets pulled over on Route 5 as the cop can’t even see the silhouette of the driver? The laws vary state-by-state, but that’s a clear hazard and it turned into a major heroin bust.
I have never seen a car pulled over for blowing thru a crosswalk
Thanks a lot for the limiting the length of the subject line.
I see this on a daily basis. The one time I was in the middle of a crosswalk and some twerp in a pickup blew right in front of me AND a foot patrol cop, the cop yelled at me. I reported him to his captain right away and thankfully haven’t seen that uniformed low-life since.
Cars get pulled over for blowing through a crosswalk? Utter nonsense, and the author of this post needs to answer for disseminating known, false information.