Originally Posted by genec
Hate to be the naysayer here, but don't peds have right of way?
Sure it is a pain, but probably on the same scale of us jumping in front of some auto barreling along at 30MPH when we "claim a lane."
Sure it is stupid, but too many folks equate bikes as toys, so they are not apt to do the math and realize that the oncoming force could be quite extreme.
I know this puts bikes in a strange ROW situation... We have to watch for cars 'cause "jonny cager" is just too stupid to understand ROW, and we have to watch out for peds because somebody has to.
BTW I sail too, so all this Right of Way stuff turns out to be pretty much the same for me... Motorboaters are "stupid stinkpotters" and fishermen and kayaks and small boats have ROW over sailboats. At least bikes don't have to worry about port and starboard ROW too...
This may differ state to state, but my understanding is that, at least in Missouri, peds can only cross legally at intersections, and that crossing mid-street is illegal. That said, I'm sure it is not legal to purposely run down a ped mid-street if you can avoid it!
There was a famous case in St Louis several years back in which a visiting pedestrian advocate, Susie Stephens, was killed in downtown St Louis, crossing in a pedestrian crosswalk, with the green light, in broad daylight, by a commercial bus driver turning left into the crosswalk. According to the driver, "A head suddenly appeared in my windshield". Her body was crushed underneath the wheels of the bus and she was dead at the scene. The bus driver was charged with "failure to yield". Presumably, if this had happened mid-block, there would not even be misdemeanor charges filed.