crosswalks

Published on: August 5, 2024

Simple Street Design Changes can Help Prevent Pedestrian Accidents

Reducing the number of pedestrians killed in car accidents every year is key to reducing the number of auto accident wrongful deaths recorded across the country. Simple design interventions can help accomplish this goal.

According to a report titled Dangerous By Design by Smart Growth America, basic design interventions that may be simple to execute are often all that are required to reduce the number of auto accident fatalities involving pedestrians every year. Pedestrian crash deaths have been driving the increase in car and auto accident deaths across the country, and the expert consensus is that unless these deaths are minimized, there will be very little progress made in keeping our roads safer.

The U.S. does not boast the type of pedestrian – friendly infrastructure that is the hallmark of roads in Europe, but small steps can minimize the risk to pedestrians even on our roads. The report Dangerous By Design finds that simple design interventions can reduce auto accident risks. For example, brighter lighting and illumination at key pedestrian -heavy areas can make a huge difference for pedestrians. A brightly-lit street means pedestrians can be seen clearly and avoided by motorists. Similarly, shorter crossing distances for pedestrians can also help. Multi-lane roads provide minimal opportunities for pedestrians to cross safely. Better designed medians and brighter markings at curbs can also help reduce the risk to pedestrians. Even simple steps like more striped crosswalks and stop signs will alert motorists to pedestrian activity in the area. The use of pedestrian refuge islands and curb extensions are also strategies that can help minimize the risk of pedestrian accidents.

Published on: January 4, 2024

Is it Time to End Right on Red Laws to Prevent Pedestrian Accidents?

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

A decades-old law that was meant to manage fuel shortages is coming under the spotlight in states like Georgia, as experts consider ways to reduce the number of pedestrian accidents around the country.

The so-called “right- on-red” law allows motorists in Georgia and several other states to make a right turn at an intersection even if the light is on red as long as the intersection is clear. The law provides American motorists with a unique privilege, and comes as a result of a law that was passed in the 1970s as the country grappled with fuel shortages. That was when an oil embargo pushed oil prices to record levels, necessitating the passing of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. Some other states had passed similar right to turn laws a few decades earlier.

The laws continued to remain in place even after the oil embargo ended and fuel prices returned to normal. It is a privilege that American motorists now do not even think twice about, and it is only now in the face of skyrocketing pedestrian accident deaths that experts are asking if it is time to retire a law that is possibly at least partly responsible for the increasing number of people being killed in pedestrian accidents, especially at intersections.

Published on: April 15, 2019

What you Need to Know about Pedestrian Safety Laws in Georgia

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The number of pedestrians has been increasing all throughout Georgia as more people choose to walk for health or recreational reasons. The City of Atlanta has especially taken extra efforts to become a more walker friendly town. Therefore, as a pedestrian, you should be aware of the protections and rights afforded to you under Georgia laws. Learning about these laws will help you obey traffic rules as well as keep you safe.

First of all, pedestrians have the right of way on a marked crosswalk in Georgia. If you are already waking on the crosswalk, then all motorists must stop and yield to you. The law requires the driver of a car to stop and remain stopped while the pedestrian is crossing the road. The motorist can only resume driving when the pedestrian has safely completed crossing. This essentially means that a motorist can’t try to squeeze by you, or barely give you any room to squeeze by them while they are on the road.

However, the picture becomes different when you are crossing the road outside of a designated crosswalk. Now, the motorist’s have the right of way which means that you must yield to motorists who are driving. As a pedestrian, you also have the duty to look in both directions to first make sure that the street is safe to cross – a lesson that we all learned as children. This does not mean that a motorist can continue to speed towards you though. A driver still has the duty to avoid hitting a pedestrian if he or she is already in the process of crossing the street. A driver also must anticipate that a pedestrian could attempt to cross the street at any point, and has the duty to warn a pedestrian of their approach by honking the horn or give some other type of warning.

Published on: April 14, 2010

Georgia Pedestrian at Risk from Crosswalk Shortages

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Georgia Pedestrians at Risk from Shortage of Crosswalks

A pedestrian accident last week in Marietta killed a four-your-old boy and seriously injured his mother and sister. The family was crossing the road in front of their apartment when they were struck by a van. The driver of the van drove off from the scene, but was traced later and arrested.

As Atlanta pedestrian accident lawyers, we often come across the single most important question that people seem to ask whenever a pedestrian is involved in a collision. Was the person walking on a crosswalk?