Walking speed is the relevant issue here. It's not fair to a motorist to expect to check for a crosswalk to be clear of ALL traffic regardless of its speed. If someone is coming down the sidewalk at 25 MPH, they'd have to check so far back (and possibly out of their line of sight) that in many cases they'd never be able to actually proceed.
Yes, it's the motorist's responsibility to ensure that the crosswalk is clear. But how far back? Should a racer on a bike doing 40 MPH, appearing from behind a building a fraction of a second before entering a crosswalk expect ROW? I know that's not anything like the situation here, but when making general statements about crosswalks I don't think you can always just say "if a motorist with a red hits a cyclist while doing a right on red, he must always be at fault."
Again, I believe that in THIS case, he was at fault, because the cyclists were proceeding at reasonable walking speeds.
If you're going walking speed (say, no more than 5 MPH) then whether walking or cycling, you should expect to be given ROW.
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Work: the 8 hours that separates bike rides.
Last edited by ItsJustMe; 10-29-08 at 10:55 AM.