Right Turn into a Crosswalk
Lance asked: Here’s the situation: I’m about to make a right turn into a shopping center, and a bicyclist is riding on the sidewalk and enters the roadway in front of me. Was he supposed to stop for me, or was I supposed to stop for him? I stopped but almost hit him first because I didn’t see him on the sidewalk.
A bicyclist on a sidewalk or crosswalk has the rights and duties of a pedestrian.
s. 316.2065 – Bicycle Regulations
(9) A person propelling a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, has all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.
A crosswalk may be marked as such or unmarked.
s. 316.003 – Definitions
(6) Crosswalk(a) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway, measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway.(b) Any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.
The following post is written about pedestrians, but also applies to bicyclists on the sidewalk or crosswalk due to the above.
That doesn’t directly answer the question but my understanding is: the larger vehicle yields to the smaller one. So, the car yields to the bike and the bike yields to the pedestrian.
Lance, If he was in the intersection first then you wait. I thought that a turning vehicle yielded to peds or bikes in a crosswalk unless the vehicle was already turning and in the intersection or crosswalk first, then the ped or bike that wasn’t in the crosswalk yet they they had to stop for the vehicle. Just because they are smaller or on the sidewalk they still have laws applied to them, they can’t do what ever they want. A bike or ped still has to look and wait if needed before crossing. I have seen bicyclist not even look and cross and then they wonder why they get hit. Correct me if I am misunderstanding this.
Phil and Keithmj,
Not exactly. Size does not control who yields, except on the sidewalk or crosswalk, when bicyclists must always yield to pedestrians.
A direct answer supported by information in the post and link above is that if the pedestrian or bicyclist is in the crosswalk, the motorist must yield, if they entered the crosswalk in adequate time for the motorist to yield. You can’t jump into the path of a speeding car and expect to have the right of way. The speed of a cyclist on the sidewalk is no excuse for leaving a place of safety and going into the path of the oncoming motor vehicle.
Determining the safe distance of an approaching motor vehicle is not easy and it is always prudent to err on the side of safety when leaving the sidewalk and entering the roadway.
A while back I attended a crosswalk enforcement training program by Ron Van Houten and J.E. Louis Malenfant for police officers that calculated the precise distance at the speed limit that would allow the motorist to safely yield to pedestrians entering the crosswalk. The distance is surprisingly further that one would expect. An example of that work and the details are in this article: