Pedestrians’ rights in crosswalks comes with responsibilities

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To the Editor,

As a car driver, I am obligated to watch out for pedestrians, plus other instances around me.

If I hit a pedestrian, I am liable to get a ticket for not stopping at the crosswalk.

When is it going to be a ticket-generating offence for pedestrians who do not stop and look each way before crossing the road?

I have encountered a number of pedestrians who are walking along the sidewalk and continue to keep walking without looking before crossing the road.

Or, they look and give the driver the finger for making them stop when, in essence, stopping abruptly a few feet from a crosswalk could result in a possible rear end collision.

In that instance, the driver is completely to blame, but the pedestrian is just as much to blame and should be dealt with by police.

Life is too short to not abide by simple rules.

An uncontrolled crosswalk means stop, look both ways and then proceed if safe. A controlled crosswalk means wait for the walk signal.

Remember, the driver approaching the crosswalk may be concentrating on things, and that is all it takes to kill or injure someone. Surely people cannot be in that much of a hurry to put themselves in harm’s way.

Car drivers and pedestrians have to work together to overcome these crosswalk accidents.

Each individual is responsible, not just the driver.

Dave Noble

Nanaimo