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A widespread misunderstanding of the pedestrian safety law that was put into effect in Oregon sometime in the first half of this decade is drivers now view pedestrians standing on street corners as stop signs.

That is not what the law intended. The law intended that any car a half block or more from a pedestrian stepping into the street had better stop for that pedestrian! (And no pedestrian should step into the street if there are cars coming from less than a half block away.)

I have seen a car on a one-way, three lane street, stop for a pedestrian standing on a street corner who was just waiting for the lull that comes in traffic. This endangers the pedestrian who might just respond to that one car stopped in three lanes of oncoming traffic. I have seen pedestrians almost hit by cars in the other lanes who had no idea why a car was stopped in one of the other one-way lanes.

While the car in the rear of an accident is always to blame, I have seen more than one rear-ending due to a car, out of the blue, stopping for a pedestrian who was just waiting for the lull in traffic. The car behind all of a sudden has a car in front of them abruptly stopping.

There comes a lull. Many of us pedestrians are still willing to wait for it. Standing on a street corner, I am not a stop sign.

Jim Knutson

posted 2 years, 7 months ago
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