Full Notification

As the long awaited warmer weather starts to arrive, we start to see more pedestrians out enjoying it & wanted to share a few reminders to help keep everyone safe. Pedestrian safety is crucial to know for both pedestrians & drivers. The single most important safety tip to reduce pedestrian injuries & fatalities is to PAY ATTENTION. Make eye contact with drivers if possible and make sure that they can see you.

Both drivers and pedestrians have certain safety responsibilities that depend on both circumstances & common sense.

Drivers must:
• Yield to pedestrians when crossing a sidewalk or entering an alley or driveway
• Yield to pedestrians who have started crossing at an intersection or crosswalk on a "walk" signal or a green light, if there is no walk signal
• Yield to pedestrians who are crossing the highway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection where there are no traffic lights or control signals
• Not overtake and pass any vehicle that stops at an intersection or crosswalk to permit a pedestrian or bicyclist to cross the roadway safely
• Remember, failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk is a $250 citation!

Pedestrians must:
• Yield to drivers when crossing a road where there is no intersection or crosswalk or where the pedestrian does not have a green or "walk" signal and where vehicles have a green signal
• Not suddenly move into the path of a closely approaching vehicle that does not have sufficient time to yield for a pedestrian
• Walk on and along the left side of a highway when not walking on a sidewalk. Note: This law does not apply to bicycles. Bicycles operate under the same laws as other legal vehicles on the road and should always stay on the right side of the road.

A recent report from the Federal Bureau of Transportation Safety concluded that the pedestrian was solely at fault in 43% of car-pedestrian collisions & that both were at fault in 13% of collisions. You can significantly reduce your chances of death or injury by obeying traffic rules & being aware of dangers posed by cars in your vicinity. For example: 58% of pedestrian-car crashes occur while the pedestrian was crossing the street. Pay close attention to cars in your vicinity. Make eye contact with drivers if possible.

For a summary of Wisconsin pedestrian laws, visit http://bit.ly/PedestrianLaws