Pedestrian vs. Automobile: It’s a Two-Way Street

If you’ve ever come face to face with the bugs on the grille of a sport-utility vehicle, you know well the perils of walking in a world of drivers.

Guerry Pirtle has experienced that view. In early December, while crossing the street outside the West Los Angeles restaurant he manages, Pirtle was grazed by a Ford Explorer. The driver, turning the corner, appeared to be distracted by a conversation on his cell phone.

“He just checked to see that there were no cars coming,” Pirtle said. The driver never stopped--talking on the phone or to see what damage his carelessness had caused. Fortunately, Pirtle was not seriously hurt. Not everyone is so lucky.

In 1998, 5,541 pedestrians in Los Angeles County were injured in traffic-related accidents and 200 were killed, according to statistics reported on the California Highway Patrol’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System. And on Los Angeles roadways alone, nearly 4,800 pedestrians were injured.

In 1997, Los Angeles and Long Beach ranked among the top five of California’s 10-biggest cities for total pedestrians injured and killed, as sorted by vehicle miles traveled and by population, said Patricia Mora, Los Angeles County regional coordinator for the Office of Traffic Safety in Sacramento.

Who’s to blame? Pedestrians say drivers are too distracted and dangerous. Drivers say pedestrians are too daring and thoughtless.

Officials say both are right--and wrong. Indeed, pedestrians and drivers both need to move cautiously and considerately to avert unnecessary encounters.

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The key fact in all of this, as spelled out in Section 21950 of the California Vehicle Code, is that pedestrians have the right of way when crossing within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.

To remind motorists to yield to pedestrians, the Glendale Police Department began a program in 1997 in which plainclothes officers cross at “unprotected” intersections--those without stoplights.

Drivers who do not yield are ticketed by an officer stationed nearby. Of particular concern is the intersection at Garfield and Glendale avenues, said Police Lt. Don Meredith, the city’s traffic bureau coordinator.

The stretch of Glendale Avenue from about Doran Street to San Fernando Road can be deceptive to a driver because it appears to be a commercial area. But on nearly every block is an unprotected crosswalk that stretches across four lanes, and thus beyond normal peripheral vision.

And although signs clearly indicate a 25-mph speed limit, most drivers are traveling 35 to 45 mph, making yielding to pedestrians--and crossing safely, from the pedestrian’s perspective--that much more difficult, said Sgt. Lewie Guay, the creator of Glendale’s program.

“More often than not, [with] people who aren’t yielding to pedestrians, speed is involved,” he said, noting that his department’s undercover stings are intended to return the focus to driving.

The Glendale department conducts these stings about once a month, and credits the operation with helping to reduce the number of pedestrian fatalities to their lowest level in 46 years, Meredith said.

From Glendale’s program have sprung similar efforts in more than 30 Southern California cities, as well as in Oregon and Washington state, Guay said.

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Drivers aren’t totally to blame, though.

Pedestrians “are responsible for their own safety,” said Meredith, who serves on a countywide task force for traffic safety. He urges pedestrians to be aware of their surroundings: “Just because you can see the car doesn’t mean the car sees you.”

And just as motorists should drive defensively, pedestrians should walk defensively, he said.

Sometimes what fuels the adversarial relationship between car and crosser is that people maintain an entitlement complex--”I own the road”--whether behind the wheel or on foot. The same impatient drivers become defiant pedestrians when they are on foot, and vice versa.

And it’s not just daily commuters. Take, for example, the Coachella Valley, where incidents of dangerous driver-pedestrian behavior this season are as common as the “snowbirds” who have flocked there to defrost. Sightseeing pedestrians sometimes take a vacation from their senses, stepping off sidewalks directly into harm’s way rather than waiting for the crossing light. Although the pace is a bit more relaxed out there than in the big city, nerves still get frayed, tires still screech and people still get hurt.

Thinking like a driver and paying attention to the flow of traffic are a couple of ways to cross safely and courteously.

For many of us, the car has become an extension of the home and workplace, with related conveniences and challenges. We eat, chat, primp, bop to the beat of some bumping tunes, discipline our children and plan our day while we drive. But whenever we’re inside a vehicle, it’s important to focus on the road. Our lives and the lives of others depend on it.

As Pirtle, the restaurant manager who was hit by a distracted driver, put it: “Whenever you’re driving your car, I really don’t think there’s anything more important than driving.”

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Michelle Maltais, a radio producer and editor on The Times’ Business desk, can be reached at [email protected].

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Walk (and Drive) This Way

Pedestrian safety is a serious concern. When it comes to encounters between vehicles and pedestrians, the pedestrian always loses, regardless of who had the right of way. Here are some tips for both drivers and walkers:

For Drivers

* Come to a full stop. Especially here in Southern California, home of the “California stop,” motorists need to remember to stop completely at signals and stop signs before entering a crosswalk or at the white limit line--the wide white line painted on the street. When a crosswalk or limit line is not marked, stop at the corner.

* Do not pass a vehicle from behind that has stopped at a crosswalk. A pedestrian hidden from your view may be crossing. Pedestrians have the right of way at corners, whether or not the crosswalks are marked by painted white lines.

* Use caution near schools and where children play. Drivers should be alert near schools at all times but especially in the afternoon, because children, energized from being released for the day, can forget to follow crossing rules.

* Wait for the pedestrian to reach the other side before proceeding. Besides being required by law, this can also help to alert drivers in other lanes to the presence of a pedestrian they might not otherwise have seen until it is too late. If other drivers see your vehicle moving, they might wrongly take that as a cue that the road is clear. (Officers do say, though, that they probably won’t ticket you if you drive onward once a pedestrian has moved far enough from your car that a collision could not occur.)

* Yield the right of way to pedestrians. It’s the pedestrian’s right but not an absolute one, since a 1- to 2-ton mass of steel in motion has to acknowledge that right by stopping, says Jeffrey Spring of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

* You must stop for any person using a guide dog or a white cane with or without a red tip. Only blind, or nearly blind, people are allowed to use guide dogs or white canes, and they must be given the right of way at all times whether in or out of a crosswalk.

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For Pedestrians

* Allow vehicles enough time to stop. In other words, don’t jump into the crosswalk, confident in your having the right of way, as a vehicle approaches. You may be right, but that may be a win you’ll take to the grave.

* Make eye contact with drivers. This way you can establish that the driver has seen you and intends to stop. Remember, though, that making eye contact does not guarantee that the driver has acknowledged you or will yield the right of way.

* Cross at intersections, preferably in designated crossing areas. At traffic lights, use the push-button when possible and cross with the “walk” sign only. At a crossing without pedestrian signals, pedestrians must obey the red, yellow or green signal lights. Cross only on a green light--never on a yellow or red.

* Stop, look and listen before crossing the street. Look left, right, then left again before crossing the street. Look for cars and bicycles.

* Never cross the street from between parked cars. Drivers can’t see you.

* Use extra caution when crossing with children. Hold the hand of a child who can walk. It’s wise when crossing with children to let them lag a little bit. Drivers have an easier time seeing adults than children, who often aren’t visible from the driver’s seat.

* Wear bright colors during both the day and night to help drivers see you. You can make yourself more visible at night by wearing white clothing and retro-reflective materials or carrying a flashlight. However, wearing only white clothing at night does not always guarantee your safety.

* Always cross in a straight line. Try to use the shortest possible route across a street.

* Avoid dangerous moves. Any movement a pedestrian makes that drivers aren’t expecting could prove dangerous. The law says that any driver must take care for the safety of any pedestrian. But if the driver can’t stop in time, the law won’t help you.

* Walk defensively. Be prepared for the unexpected: Don’t let cars surprise you, even if a motorist does something wrong such as running a stop sign or making a sudden turn.

* Take care in parking lots. Pedestrians are supposed to have the right of way, but many drivers don’t know or acknowledge that. Bottom line: Parking lots can be as dangerous as streets.

* Keep your view of traffic clear at all times. Pedestrians need to be able to see cars around them. Don’t block your view with packages, umbrellas or other objects.

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Sources: Automobile Club of Southern California, California Department of Motor Vehicles, Riverside County, Community Wire