So I read in the paper this morning that a 14-year old boy was hit by a car yesterday morning, while riding his bicycle. The incident happened at a crosswalk on North Park Street, and the driver was issued a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian. WTF!!!???? If the boy was riding his bike, as specified in the paper, then he wasn’t a pedestrian and had no right being in the crosswalk at all. If he were walking his bike across the crosswalk, there would be merit to the ticket. If he was, in fact, riding his bike across the crosswalk, the ticket should be overturned.
The boy was treated for minor injuries, so thankfully he’s alright.
I’d be fighting this ticket.
This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2008.
Just a young HRM banzai bicyclist in training. Just think, in a few years he too can drive on the wrong side of the road, ignore traffic signs and lights, go down one way streets the wrong way, and dart through traffic using sidewalks, with total impunity. A life of terrorizing drivers and pedestrians awaits. A few scratches now is a small price to pay.
I’m to understand that until a certain age a cyclist is a pedestrian (I’ll do some research but i think the cutoff is at 16 years), I mean, if you havent done your written drivers test, how can you be expected to follow the rules of the road?
Ooh I was totally wrong as per this document:http://www.halifax.ca/cycling/Safety/basic%20rules%20for%20young%20children.pdf
The point of the ticket is that you are not allowed to mow people down at will even if they are in the wrong. Plenty of times I have wanted to plow right through an entire crowd or over some stunned ped., while thinking fuck you, you SOB, get off the fucking road I am trying to drive here. But you see I did not, because it is just not allowed. Doesn’t really matter how much you want to. And this guy in the paper got a ticket, even if it was not the right ticket. Pay attention, especially while you drive. People just do not appear out of no where. A lot of drivers think they can do anything with impunity.
The greater issue is what is defined in the ticket. ‘Failing to yield to a pedestrian’ is a slap on the wrist. It is only punishable by a fine. Wasn’t a young girl killed in a crosswalk in Dartmouth a year or two ago by a driver who “failed to yield”?The penalty does not fit the crime.
Thank you Scott. Well said. “Right of way” doesn’t mean “right to kill or maim”. This is a point that many drivers flatly refuse to acknowledge. With power comes responsibility. Drivers always bear some responsibility for the safety of more vulnerable road users, because drivers are the ones with the power to kill someone. Of course everyone is responsible for their own personal safety. But if I abdicate my responsibility, that doesn’t absolve you of yours.Having said that, if the cyclist was riding across the crosswalk, he should have been ticketed as well.