This one is complicated

[conuly]

Well, not the issue, the backstory.

And the issue is pretty bad. Woman with three crossed the street after getting off a bus rather than walking a mile out of her way to the light, kid darted into traffic and got hit by a drunk driver... and the mother got convicted of "vehicular manslaughter"! Edit: That link is better (it has a picture), but this one is working right now.

I picked up this link at FRK. There's this one guy there (one of the periodic drop in semi-trolls, I'm thinking) who is convinced that the fact that some of us (me) are calling this a failure of design (seriously, how hard is it to provide safe crossings closer than a mile apart?) are trying to avoid or abdicate responsibility. After all, this woman "committed a crime" by "jaywalking" and she put herself "and others, including drivers at risk".

Guy's an obnoxious ass, but it gets better. Another commenter pointed out the term "unmarked intersection" and said that it's rarely illegal to cross at those. And after one too many snotty comments from Mr. Annoying, I looked up the law in Atlanta.

I'm not a lawyer, and I know little about Georgia laws, but looking carefully at this page and at the picture in the first link, I'm wondering if this woman ever broke the law at all. It seems to me that by crossing at the intersection (the obvious place to cross) and waiting at the median for traffic to pass, she was... actually within the bounds of the law.

Not that this convinces Mr. Annoying ("haven't you ever heard of yielding to traffic??" because, y'know, waiting for the cars to pass isn't doing just that), but I'm even more pissed off on this woman's behalf now. I just thought the case was morally wrong before, but now I'm wondering if it really had any legal standing at all, even a flimsy one!

Comments

[codeman38]

I'm not a lawyer, but I am a Georgia native, and I'd interpret it the same way that you did.

Even if it wasn't considered an unmarked crosswalk by the state, the driver is still the one who's in the wrong as long as Raquel and the kids had already entered the street:

"Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway unless he has already, and under safe conditions, entered the roadway."

[conuly]

I was hoping for your input specifically as a non-driver in Georgia, thanks.

[codeman38]

Not that I feel safe crossing even when I do technically have the right of way, of course, because drivers around here are reckless. There are several times I've nearly been run into when I was crossing at a marked pedestrian crossing.

[conuly]

If you wait long enough at the crosswalk, the oil will all run out. No more cars!

[steorra]

The first link isn't working right now ('Error establishing a database connection'), so I haven't read it, but based on what you've said in the post - that's really unfair and unsettling.

[codeman38]

Here's the AJC's story on the same case, since the Transportation For America blog seems to be recovering from the Slashdot Effect right now:

http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/pedestrian-convicted-of-vehicular-1014879.html

[steorra]

Thanks.

[conuly]

Thankies.

Sorry for the rant

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

The first link doesn't work for me (I get "Error establishing a database connection"), so I'm not able to read the story in full or read the comments. But as an obligate pedestrian and transit rider, I have several things to say on this.

To start with, I can understand from a motorist's point of view that there are pedestrians who are inconsiderate and dangerous about crossing the street. I'm not talking about people who have genuine mobility issues; I'm talking about the young and able-bodied kids who just lollygag across the street, chumming away with their buds while perfectly aware that there are impatient drivers waiting for them to finish crossing. Many of them do cross illegally, often a few dozen feet away from a crosswalk (marked or not) and just expect the drivers to yield to them.

Now, that said, the circumstances I've been able to glean from your post do sound like the mother of the child was wrongly convicted. First of all, if she was indeed legally crossing, which it sounded like, then the cars, no matter how impatient, should have yielded to her and her children. While I get that having to wait for a slow pedestrian "wastes time and gas," I really wish the drivers would stop to put themselves in the pedestrian's shoes (no pun intended): it may take the pedestrian several minutes to wait for traffic to clear enough for them to cross (which could easily cause them to miss a crucial bus connection if they're trying to make a transfer, especially if they have to walk several blocks further to get there), whereas a stopped vehicle would probably only have to wait up to a minute or so for the pedestrian to cross.

Secondly, I've always been of the belief that it is the driver's responsibility to look out for unpredictable sudden hazards, like that child (it's the reason that they have those signs posted at crossings near schools). I believe that if you have the licensed privilege (and certainly not the right) to operate a multi-ton vehicle that's capable of mass destruction on a local level, then you have the responsibility to pay attention to your surroundings and not allow unnecessary distractions (such as cell phones, kids in the back seat, eating breakfast or lunch, putting on make-up, reading a book, or anything else that can certainly wait until the driver is pulled over to the curb) to divert your attention from the road. Yes, I know that there are certain things that can't be prevented, like a sudden sneezing attack or (in the case of a school bus driver, and thankfully, no one was injured) bees flying inside the vehicle and obstructing the driver's vision. But I'm talking about preventable distractions, that would certainly reduce the risk of accidents. When it's a person versus a car, the car always wins.

And I also agree that there needs to be a great deal to be done to make streets and sidewalks more pedestrian friendly. In my town, which is touted to be "pedestrian friendly," I still risk veritable suicide missions just trying to get from my bus stop to my apartment building because most of the crosswalks are unmarked and implicit, and even the one that is marked and traffic controlled is very dangerous because of people making right turns and not stopping completely to let me cross (never mind that they're essentially running a red light). And just even going from my front door to the mailbox about a couple blocks away is dangerous, because there are no sidewalks down the street but LOTS of landscaping and shrubbery that pretty much prevents anyone from walking on what would have been a sidewalk, and LOTS of sidestreet parking. So I often have be aware to make sure that no cars are sneaking up behind me while I look ahead to make sure that no traffic is coming towards me. When there are construction zones in areas that serve both pedestrians and motorists, guess who's most likely to get the shaft and be forced to make a detour of several blocks to a mile away from where they would normally traverse, while the others don't have to make any such adjustments to their trip? =/ They say that "walking's supposed to be good for you," but how can it be good for you when the streets are designed to put the pedestrian at risk of getting hit?

Re: Sorry for the rant

[conuly]

I edited it to add another link.

Re: Sorry for the rant

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That link is working, and... okay, I have to say, now that I know more details of the incident, words cannot describe the depths of how much WTF I feel over this whole thing. O_o; He's basically driving under the influence and is visually impaired... and only gets 6 months for killing that child? (On top of a history of hit-and-run incidents for which he served time less than a year?) I... don't even.

Re: Sorry for the rant

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

I still risk veritable suicide missions just trying to get from my bus stop to my apartment building because most of the crosswalks are unmarked and implicit, and even the one that is marked and traffic controlled is very dangerous because of people making right turns and not stopping completely to let me cross (never mind that they're essentially running a red light).

GAH. THIS. This happens to me *all the time*. Seriously, has nobody ever tried actually walking in these supposedly pedestrian-friendly areas?