Make Sure Your Little Goblins Know The Law of Crossing the Street

The time of year has come once more when our little ghosts and goblins will be roaming the streets of Northeastern Pennsylvania looking for a trick or a treat. Prior to sending your little witches and devils out on the streets, make sure they know the law in Pennsylvania regarding pedestrian crossings. Also, make sure that you know the law in Pennsylvania pertaining to your obligation as a driver when approaching a pedestrian in the street.

Initially, under the law, when an intersection in controlled by a stop light, a vehicle with a green light shall yield the right of way to a pedestrian also attempting to cross the same intersection. See 75 Pa.C.S.A §3112. When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right – of – way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute a hazard. See Pa.C.S.A. §3542.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has long established that drivers of motor vehicles approaching intersections, “must be highly vigilant and maintain such control that, on the shortest possible notice, they can stop their cars so as to prevent danger to pedestrians.” Anderson v. Wood, 264 Pa. 98, 107 A. 658 (1919).

So make sure your little ones are well lit up this Halloween season and always cross at a corner or crosswalk. And you as a driver, remember to yield to these little ghosts and goblins or you may receive a trick you did not desire.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian G. Price, Esquire