This blog post was inspired by my lunchtime jog across campus last week, and, more specifically, by the driver of the car who sped toward me as I darted across the crosswalk on Raleigh Road. You know who you are . . . Pedestrians have the right of way. It's a mantra I used frequently as an undergraduate at UNC. But is it true? And did it give me the right to walk brazenly in front of traffic on Franklin Street lo so many years ago? Yes and no. Several provisions of Chapter 20 govern the rights of pedestrians. First, G.S. 20-173(a) provides that when there are no traffic control signals a vehicle must yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at or near an intersection by "slowing down or stopping if need be." The term "unmarked crosswalk" is not defined In Chapter 20, but the state supreme court has defined it as "that area within an intersection which also lies within the lateral boundaries of a sidewalk projected across the intersection." Anderson v. Carter, 272 N.C. 426, 430, 158 S.E.2d 607, 610 (1968). To have an "unmarked crosswalk," there must be a sidewalk or " 'sidewalk like area'" on at least one side of the intersection. Tucker v. Bruton, 102 N.C. App. 117, 401 S.E.2d 130 (1991). G.S. 20-173(b) requires the driver of a vehicle entering or exiting an alley, building entrance, private road, or driveway to yield the [...]
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