[Squishy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090226/ap_ ... n_ticketed

As a side note, I'm interested to hear people's thoughts on this. On a Canadian-centric forum I am on, the majority feel this ticket is deserved but we're told that most American forums are crying foul.

I'm with my fellow Canadians in feeling that this ticket is deserved.

 

[JIMMYJOHN]

The tickets are all warrented however the old women should also get one. If they had not started accross the street the men wouldn't have been there. What is fair for one is fair for all.

 

[Wingsfan]

Yup, all should be given tickets

 

[CrashNburn]

you cant ticket the 2 men, and not give the ticket to the 2 women. thats sexist, and age discrimination.

 

[weebee]

All or none. According to the news. The police are reconsidering about the tickets.

 

[Dasha]

The tickets should have been given to all of them......so unfair!! I do feel the cop could have been a little more sensitive and just given verbal warnings. :taz:

 

[Ajax]

So he deserves tickets for jaywalking after helping 2 women cross the road?

We should give "Sully", the cap't of the USAirways plane that went down in the Hudson, a ticket for littering when he left his A320 in the river too..... :rant:

 

[stone]

I feel the jaywalking ticket was too harsh. Considering he was injured, the cops should have been more diplomatic. The officer, should have given a cautionary warning.

 

[Squishy]

I feel the tickets were given to make a point. If the bus driver wanted to be a good samaritan, he should have offered to drop them off at the next crosswalk instead. No one should be jaywalking in a snowstorm. If no tickets were handed out, this would just be a local news story that few people pay attention to. Now it is being circulated at the national level, maybe even international, and is hopefully making others stop and think about consequences before doing something, no matter how good their intentions may be.

Not everything has to be "fair". Handing out these kind of tickets is done at the officer's discretion - the circumstances are considered and some people are let off with a warning. If two speeders are pulled over at once, the one being honest and apologetic may get off with a warning. The one claiming he did nothing wrong will get a ticket - that's life. In this situation, I feel that the men were more at fault for enabling the women to cross. Maybe if nothing was done, the women would have realised that visibility was poor and used the nearest crosswalk instead. We'll never know, because the men basically told them it was okay by offering to help them across.

 

[Squishy]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11802857

The tickets have been withdrawn. :roll:

There are more details in that article. It sounds like they were crossing where a side street intersected with a main street - with the side street having no traffic control devices nor marked crosswalks. From the description of the "last lane" being a left turn lane, it sounds like the main street was a one-way street. It also mentioned a stopped vehicle on the road, which makes me think that traffic was stopping because of these people.

While it may send mixed signals to those who truly believe that jaywalking is a God-given right, I think a good amount of people have gotten the message from the media coverage this has gotten. It's too bad that most articles I have read spin the situation to paint the officers as the "bad guys".

 

[Scooter Scott]

I don't agree with this at all. No matter what pedestrians always have the right away and I am sure these guys looked both ways before crossing. The driver should have had more control of his car in a snow storm

 

[Squishy]

They may have the right-of-way once on the roadway, but that does not mean they can cross the road wherever they want. The driver was ticketed as well.

Also, I see no such regulation under Ontario traffic law that states pedestrians always have the right-of-way. Drivers are only required to yield to pedestrians within a crosswalk. I'm not sure what Colorado law says.

 

[Scooter Scott]

I've never heard of anyone being ticketed for jay walking in Indiana. Where I live in Indianapolis is a place called Broadripple...on the strip where all the bars are, people jay walk there all the time. Everyone crosses wherever they feel like. Any yes, the pedestrian always has the right-a-way and people stop for the pedestrian all the time...you need to have control of your car. I dunno this subject could go both ways...I guess it is all in how the laws are in your area.

 

[Squishy]

Colorado Revised Statutes 42-4-803:

(1) Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.

(2) Any pedestrian crossing a roadway at a point where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.

(3) Between adjacent intersections at which traffic control signals are in operation, pedestrians shall not cross at any place except in a marked crosswalk.

(4) No pedestrian shall cross a roadway intersection diagonally unless authorized by official traffic control devices; and, when authorized to cross diagonally, pedestrians shall cross only in accordance with the official traffic control devices pertaining to such crossing movements.

(5) Any person who violates any provision of this section commits a class B traffic infraction.

Emphasis mine.

And here's why the driver deserved a ticket as well (CRS 42-4-807):

Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this article, every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway and shall give warning by sounding the horn when necessary and shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused or incapacitated person upon a roadway. Any person who violates any provision of this section commits a class A traffic infraction.

 

[Scooter Scott]

LOL

Clicky

This is a joke...

 

[Squishy]

Where's the joke?

IC 9-21-17-7 says pedestrians do not always have the right-of-way.

 

[Scooter Scott]

Ha I missed that one...I bet there is an indiana law that talks about drivers yielding to pedestrians

 

[Squishy]

That would be IC 9-21-8-37, but that does not preclude the pedestrian from being charged with an offence.

 

[JIMMYJOHN]

I will always give way to a driver they are much bigger than I am. When I use to Run and Bicycle I always tried to make eye contact with a driver. That is the only way you know they see you.

 

[CrashNburn]

I will always give way to a driver they are much bigger than I am. When I use to Run and Bicycle I always tried to make eye contact with a driver. That is the only way you know they see you.

thats whats kept me alive this long!!. especially on the motorcycle, but crossing the street with my kids, im even more safe then i ever was as a teenager. parking lots can be even worse.