“Pedestrian Problems”

 By Eric Surber 

The headline “Pedestrian struck on…” appears too frequently in the Daily Tar Heel. In 2014, two pedestrians were hit on Jones Ferry Road and Franklin Street. In 2013, it was a woman crossing MLK. Searching “pedestrian struck” on the DTH website returns 77 results since 2006, averaging nine headlines a year. And many of these incidents, like the one on Jones Ferry Road, also happened on marked crosswalks.

It’s surprising because Chapel Hill treats pedestrians like royalty. In 2005, the town even placed bins of orange flags at crosswalks so pedestrians could wave at cars as they crossed the street. But the effort failed to make crossing the street safer. People carelessly brandished flags before oncoming traffic, mistaken that a flag could stop a 4,000-pound vehicles in its tracks.

The venerated Chapel Hill pedestrian, strutting two legs and a right-of-way, needs a reality check. The average car weighs 25 times more than a person, and in the battle between man and automobile, the minivan always wins. Although cars are required by law to stop at intersections and marked crosswalks, pedestrians can’t expect cars to yield if they carelessly wander across the road.

The preamble to the NC Pedestrian Law says “It is the duty of pedestrians to look before starting across a highway, and in the exercise of reasonable care for their own safety, to keep a timely lookout for approaching motor vehicle traffic.” It is the duty of pedestrians to be responsible when crossing the street, and sometimes that means waiting for cars to pass—even in a marked crosswalk.

Many people think that “right-of-way” laws protect pedestrians in all cases. In Chapel Hill and several universities across the nation, rumors even circulate that students hit by a bus receive free tuition. Drivers aren’t always at fault if they hit a pedestrian. North Carolina law says that if a pedestrian is even one percent responsible , they are not entitled to compensation for their injuries.

Chapel Hill police officer Celisa Lehew said that when the Chapel Hill police department analyzes crash data, they find that pedestrians are at fault in most cases, meaning they wouldn’t be entitled to compensation. So pedestrians aren’t invincible.

The right-of-way law isn’t permission to carelessly cross the street. No matter how many white stripes, yellow signs, flashing lights or even orange flags hail a pedestrian, when crossing the street, it pays to stop and think.