Pedestrians In Crosswalk Have Right Of Way

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Is there really a law that says you have to yield to pedestrians in a cross walk?

A police officer dressed in a six foot four inch Donald Duck costume walked back and forth across a crosswalk in Fort Lee, New Jersey last month and ticketed motorists - nine of them to be exact, who failed to yield to him. Several of the ticketed drivers are fighting the $230 tickets, claiming that they were actually afraid to stop when they saw the giant duck walking toward them.

Whose idea was it to make a poor police officer wear a duck suit? Did he lose a bet? Did the police officer misunderstand that a decoy can be figurative? Beyond that, isn't yielding to pedestrians a courtesy rather than a law?

Traffic laws vary by state but, in virtually every state it is the law that pedestrians have the right of way at a crosswalk, so motorists and bicyclists have to yield to pedestrians.

That said, if there is a walk/don't walk sign, pedestrians have to obey the sign. And many states have laws that prohibit pedestrians from walking on highways. But, if you are driving or biking, the law says it's you who must yield to the pedestrians, or you face a ticket, points on your license, and a big honking fine.