The Oregon law of crosswalks has been in such a state of change that motorists and non-motorized roadway users view crosswalk encounters with mutual distrust and apprehension. For good reason. While the laws in Oregon’s vehicle code clearly provide non-motorists with the right of way in crosswalks, the laws of physics require careful assertion of pedestrian legal rights on the street.
Oregon’s policy makers have taken significant steps toward promoting non-motorized use of the state’s roadways as a good direction for citizens. General concern about exercise causing and good health, new laws like the 2005 Safe Routes to School legislation and the new crosswalk law have improved conditions for non-motorized roadway users. Oregon commercial interests interested wanting to establish Oregon as a recreation destination have placed countless images of humans enjoying Oregon’s roadways before the public eye, and law enforcement personnel have been willing to include protection of the most vulnerable roadway users within their mission. Pedestrian advocacy groups like the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition are becoming increasingly well organized; i.e. as more and more Oregonians identify themselves with non-motorized roadway users, positive inertia toward improvement of conditions make the Spring of 2006 the most exciting season ever for Oregon’s walkers, bicyclists, skaters, bladers, and rollers.
Oregon law treats all non-motorized crosswalk users as if they were pedestrians, even bicyclists. The Oregon 2005 Legislature attempted to clarify away a confusing section of the law relating to when a motorist must stop and wait for a pedestrian. Unfortunately, the new law is somewhat difficult to read and is linked in the minds of many citizens with the uncertainties associated with the school zone speed limit law. The end result is ignorance combined with apprehension.
Oregon Crosswalk Law
What is a Pedestrian?
The current Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) governing crosswalks went into effect in January of 2006. It applies to “pedestrians” who are defined as “any person afoot or confined in a wheelchair.” ORS 801.385.
What Is A Crosswalk?
Everyone knows what a marked crosswalk is because you can see it. However, an “unmarked” crosswalk is a little more difficult to define because it is invisible. An “unmarked crosswalk” is a place where a “marked crosswalk” would be placed between two corners if someone decided to paint crosswalk lines. Even though it is “invisible”, an unmarked crosswalk incorporates the same legal rights as a marked crosswalk. If one looks at a traditional four corner uncontrolled intersection, the unmarked crosswalks connect each corner. There is no diagonal crosswalk in Oregon.
The New 2006 Crosswalk Law
The pedestrian crosswalk law requires that vehicles allow pedestrians to exercise the right of way in a marked, or unmarked crosswalk or with a walk signal if the pedestrian is in the lane or next to the lane of travel. Further, if the intersection has a traffic control device, the vehicle must yield if the pedestrian is less than six feet from the lane into which the vehicle is turning. If the roadway has a safety island, then the vehicle must only yield when the pedestrian is on the vehicle’s side of the island. And ORS 811.020 also requires all overtaking vehicles to stop if one vehicle stops to allow a pedestrian to cross and remain stopped.
The new crosswalk law also provides greater protection for pedestrians at intersections without traffic control signals; on a street without a signal, the driver may proceed only if the lane involved in a turn and the adjacent lane, are clear of pedestrians.
So Much Power, So Little Bulk
Substantial legal rights of pedestrians in crosswalks tend to melt away on the streets. The superior mass of a speeding motor vehicle creates a dicey situation any time it is unclear whether a motorist intends to actually yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Intentional intimidation by motorists feels more dangerous when one is not surrounded by several thousand pounds of sheet metal.
If the pedestrian is not in a marked or unmarked crosswalk, then vehicular traffic has the right-of-way. This does not mean that pedestrians are prohibited from crossing the road except at crosswalks, only that away from a crosswalk the pedestrian must yield the superior right-of-way to the vehicle.
Bicycles and Crosswalks
Bicycles are both protected and discriminated against by Oregon’s crosswalk law. While bicycles are considered to be vehicles under Oregon law and must, therefore, yield the right-of-way to pedestrians just like any other vehicle, bicycles may also be operated in crosswalks. While on the one hand Oregon law allows bicyclists to have the right-of-way in crosswalks like a pedestrian, the law also sets a speed limit for bicycle riders that conditions the right-of-way on proceeding no faster than a “walking speed”. ORS 814.410. Thus, a bicycle, which easily travels at speeds much faster than running shoes, rollerblades, skateboards, jog strollers, perambulators, and wheelbarrows (all pedestrian accessories) is held to the lowest speed of any member of the group; kids on skateboards may maintain a higher legal speed in a crosswalk than their parent on a bicycle under Oregon’s crosswalk law. Bicycle advocates like the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) have been unsuccessful for over ten years in convincing the legislature that the law should be changed to include language that would allow bicyclists to proceed at a “reasonably safe speed” in a crosswalk and maintain the right-of-way. While the law makes some sense as motorists should not have to yield the right-of-way to bicycle riders speeding across intersections like galloping urban deer, few bicyclists know about the “walking speed” limit and invariably the law gets used against bicycle riders who are struck by a careless motorist when the bicyclist thought he or she was lawfully crossing the street. Insurance companies use the bicycle crosswalk law against bicycle riders to blindside injury claims, creating an unfair result that sometimes adds legal insult to injury.
While bicyclists may lawfully use all crosswalks, there are restrictions in Oregon’s cities on bicycle riding on sidewalks in certain core areas. Most sidewalk restrictions are poorly signed so it is unclear where one can and cannot ride. Both our book Pedal Power and our website contain a collection of city laws regarding sidewalk restrictions.
Oregon law also requires that bicyclists both yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and provide an audible signal when passing a pedestrian on a sidewalk. The Oregon legal system allows pedestrians and bicyclists to share the sidewalk without speed restrictions while the crosswalk sets an unnecessarily harsh speed limit of a “walking speed” for bicyclists. This bad law sends the wrong signal to visiting bicyclists and is at odds with with the state’s efforts to provide bicycle lanes and shared use recreation areas.