Yield to Pedestrian in a Crosswalk While Making a Left Turn

[youngtom]

My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: California VC21950(a)
I was making a left turn at a stop light. The light turned green and a lady with a baby carriage and young child began walking towards me in the crosswalk to my left side. I waited for another vehicle to come through the intersection and started to make my left turn watching the pedestrians closely letting them clear the lanes I was turning to. The lady actually was looking at me to ensure that she was not in danger. When I saw that they had reached the median (1/2 way across) I proceeded to make my turn into the far right lane (there were 2 lanes for me to choose) to provide sufficient room between me and the pedestrians. A policeman observed this and pulled me over citing me for VC21950(a), saying I was within 6 feet of the lady with the baby carriage. Obviously his sense of distance is off because a traffic late is much larger than 6 feet. He also told me I could not make my turn until the pedestrian(s) is completely across the street. Should I plead not guilty and fight this?

[EWYLTJ]

HELL YES you should fight this!!! This is common stupidity that cops write citations saying that you have to wait for the person to be all the way across the street and out of the crosswalk before you can proceed. There is a reason why the legislature used the word "yield" in the statute and not "stop". You do NOT have to wait for the pedestrian to clear the intersection... you merely have to yield right of way. Can you imagine in a busy city intersection if everyone waited for pedestrians to clear the streets before proceding??? Traffic would be at a standstill!!! This is just obnoxious!! Make sure when you are in court that you question the cop about his statement. He is wrong... however, there are many kool-aid drinkers here that will tell you that he is right and how you should just pay the ticket because you would be unethically taking up the court's time by pleading not guilty. Don't listen to the kool-aid drinkers.

[blewis]

I agree with Jim -- the law in CA states:

21950. (a) 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, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

Note that the law DOES NOT specify what is meant by "yield the right-of-way". Let's compare this to the law in WA and you'll see what I mean:

(1) The operator of an approaching vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian or bicycle to cross the roadway within an unmarked or marked crosswalk when the pedestrian or bicycle is upon or within one lane of the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning. For purposes of this section "half of the roadway" means all traffic lanes carrying traffic in one direction of travel, and includes the entire width of a one-way roadway.

As you can see, in WA, you must STOP until the pedestrian has cleared your half of the road by at least ONE LANE.

CA law is NOT that specific. So, it's up to the judge to decide whether you did, indeed, "yield the right-of-way". Personally, I think that if you waited and allowed the pedestrian to proceed, that's good enough -- but that's just me. Now, if you had "zipped" in front of the pedestrian, that would be a different story.

Good luck,
Barry

[youngtom]

Do I need an attorney, or can I represent myself and state the actual events as they happened. Thanks for your advise.

[youngtom]

I had my day in court finally, and the judge actually found me guilty. His interpretation was different than ours. He said as long as the pedestian is in the cross walk, you have to wait. He agreed that this would be a major problem in a busy city, but the California law is pretty vague. He did not give me a fine, so I guess he felt sorry for me.

[jk]

I would suggest the 6 foot thing played into the ruling. if the woman had reversed course abruptly, she could have been easily been in your path of trajectory. Heck, if a tall person were to fall over, you could have hit them.

[That Guy]

I had my day in court finally, and the judge actually found me guilty. His interpretation was different than ours. He said as long as the pedestian is in the cross walk, you have to wait.

I agree with the judge's interpretation... Compare a pedestrian in the crosswalk (which extend from one sidewalk to the other) to a vehicle inside the intersection. If I am expected to wait until the vehicle is out of the intersection before I enter it, then the same analogy applies to a pedestrian in the crosswalk -if the pedestrian is in the crosswalk, I am expected to wait until the pedestrian is out of the crosswalk.

He did not give me a fine, so I guess he felt sorry for me.

Unfortunately, you still get the violation point on your record, but in the grand scheme of things, and since he didn't necessarily have to suspend the fine, you got a bigger break than the average driver who is found guilty of violating this section.