Who has the right-of-way?
By Paul Goldfinger
In the Wegman’s parking lot, there is a recurring conflict: the pedestrian (usually pushing a shopping cart) vs. a moving vehicle. This theme of human vs machine at Wegmans has a few variations, but you can see it played out there over and over, either as customers leave or enter the store, or as the customer makes his way up the aisles in the parking lot while drivers are pulling out of spaces, entering spaces, driving in the aisles or across the aisles. The situation is punctuated by the presence of red stop signs, “stop” written on the road itself, or the hatched lines across the roads indicating a pedestrian walk.
This man is already in the walkway, so he has the right of way, but keep your eyes open or you could wind up in the ambulance.
It turns out that the usual traffic laws do not necessarily apply on private property. For those hatched pedestrian walks, a driver does not have to stop unless someone is already walking there. That is true even if “STOP” is painted on the road. He doesn’t have to stop even if there is a red STOP sign there.
The driver does not have to stop here, although he ought to. It’s optional on private property—at least in Ocean Township.
For the lady on top, who is barely into the hatched area, the driver approaching might think that she has not yet entered the hatched area, so he might legally go through, right in front of her. That happened to me recently at Wegmans where I was about to step into the pedestrian hatched walk when a car blew by in front of me. An Ocean Township Police officer who witnessed my outrage came up to me and said that the driver did not have to stop. Of course, courtesy would usually prevail on the part of the driver, but if you are crossing there, don’t assume anything.
These people have the right of way, but they really ought to stay within the marked zone. The red stop sign does not legally require a full stop unless people are in the cross walk already.
An officer in the Traffic Safety Office of the Ocean Township PD told me that an officer witnessing a driver endangering the safety of a pedestrian at one of those intersections could issue a “careless driving” summons, but not a “failure to stop at a stop sign” summons unless, as noted, a pedestrian is already crossing. The fact is that drivers often do not come to a full stop at some of those places in that lot which even have the red stop signs. So put away the cell phones and be aware as you enter the wild west of Wegman’s parking lot.
On the other hand, the situation is totally different on public streets and highways. The sign below is on Main Avenue near Firemen’s Park. It has a small stop sign, the word “for” and a silhouette of a pedestrian. It means that a driver must stop if a pedestrian is crossing, and if you do not, you can get a ticket for running a stop sign.
Main Avenue, Ocean Grove. Many drivers ignore these signs.
Are there state laws that cover marked crosswalks on private property ( like a company parking lot)?
It’s not so much me as it is everyone else. I know my limits. As a constant pedestrian and cyclist, I fear cars and their drivers and I don’t trust anyone, so I know what you’re saying.
Anyway, if everyone only crossed the street in the crosswalk then, I don’t know, I think everyone would also be doing 65 on the Turnpike. Most of the time I use the crosswalk because it just makes sense, or it’s the most convenient. In certain situations it just doesn’t.
This has nothing to do with Ocean Grove, though.
On and On:
Your judgement of “cars close enough” and the reality of what a driver sees might be different.
“It makes no sense to walk to a crosswalk.” Then why do we have any laws?
As to no “big deal,” it is if your judgement is wrong and a driver hits you. Sure, but might be wrong, but it was an avoidable situation.
Bullets has it exactly correct. I’m not trying to pick a battle, just pointing out the other side of the issue. Please be careful.
I don’t step out in the middle of the road (on Main) when there is traffic, but I do often cross when there aren’t any cars close enough to present a danger. Don’t see the big deal. It makes no sense to require everyone to walk to a cross walk. What if you live in between the crosswalks and want to get to your car across the street or go to the park? I could go on and on.
Pedestrians are not innocent in this. They cannot just step out into the road without ensuring cars stop.
Pedestrians have the right of way when they are in the crossing, but cars have the right of way otherwise.
@Hank
Who pays for those “blinking lights?”
That is an expensive proposition for all of Ocean Grove’s intersections. I know of only one set in town, in front of the High School.
Ocean Grove was laid out at a time when the family car might have been a horse and buggy if you were wealthy enough or some form of public transportation if not. For the most part, it remains a town designed specifically for pedestrians and a few horse and buggies, not multi-car households. The parking and traffic flow problems highlight this every season.
The North and South ends are basically full of dead end streets and there are precious few exit points out of town to the west. Up here in the North End, drivers are searching for parking spaces rather than paying attention to what is happening in the crosswalks. On Ocean and Main Aves, you have to venture halfway into the street to look around parked cars to cross the street. Until some magical plan comes into effect, pedestrians should have the right of way at EVERY intersection in town and the speed limit should be 15 MPH everywhere.
Main Avenue isn’t the only street in OG with car/pedestrian issues.
With the Broadway construction project underway and traffic re-routed to , Cookman Avenue, we’re experiencing more drivers who fail to stop at the stop signs. There have been two accidents that I’m aware of (minor ones, thank goodness). Yesterday, it was scary to see a guy driving 30 MPH past a stop sign while looking down at his mobile device. Just prior to his arrival, a group of kids had crossed the street.
The police and the township were made aware of the issues on Cookman Avenue weeks ago. For a day or two, a police officer was parked on the side street for an hour or so. Big deal.
A petition sounds like a good idea for the Main Avenue issue. And it looks like the Cookman Avenue neighbors need to get on the phone again.
We’ve been dealing with this problem for years in Ocean Grove, and some of us have barely avoided being hit by inconsiderate motorists. Some streets do not even have a sign at the crosswalk. Yet this can be easily corrected by impalnting blinking lights into the pavement, by more clearly and more abundantly posting “cross-walk signs” and by more aggressively monitoring motorists. Most important we should reduce the speed limit on Main Avenue to 15 miles per hour. How about it readers? Can we muster a petition so our kids and our own lives can be safer?
So, then; what becomes of a person crossing in the MIDDLE of a block, and not at the intersections where these “Stop For Pedestrian” signs exist?
Somehow, I suspect that the “Stop For Pedestrians In A Crosswalk” law was not meant to give carte blanch to pedestrians suddenly walking out in the middle of the road expecting a 2 or 3 ton vehicle to stop on a dime.
Surely, common sense must prevail, on BOTH sides. If at all possible, the driver should stop to avoid hitting the pedestrian, but what of the lack of common sense of pedestrians who suddenly walk out between two cars in the middle of the block and you are within 10 or 15 ft of them.
Do they not have the common sense to know it takes 30 ft or more to stop your vehicle even if you are doing the limit or just under. YET, it is the driver of the vehicle that gets the middle finger flipped at them.
This makes me scream over such a lack of intelligence. I for one would like to see pedestrians ticketed for crossing in the middle. Maybe that will wake some people up.