What exactly are the rights of pedestrians in BC?

With some recent high profile cases regarding pedestrian/car accidents, I thought  would write a few posts on what are the rights and obligations between cars and people using the streets and roads in British Columbia.

The first step is knowing what a crosswalk is.  Easy right?  Wrong!  There are "marked crosswalks" and "unmarked crosswalks".

Marked crosswalks are easy.  They are the ones with painted lines on the roadway.  Unmarked crosswalks are seemingly everywhere...and whether or not you are in a crosswalk makes a HUGE difference on the issue of fault if you are ever struck by a car.  Unmarked crosswalks are defined by the Motor Vehicle Act, like this:

"crosswalk" means

(a) a portion of the roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface, or

[below is the definition for unmarked crosswalks]

(b) the portion of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connection of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on the opposite sides of the highway, or within the extension of the lateral lines of the sidewalk on one side of the highway, measured from the curbs, or in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway;

OK, so you have to read it very carefully to understand it and even police get this wrong half the time.  Essentially, if you are on a sidewalk and there is a sidewalk going in the same direction at the other side of the street, then you are in an unmarked crosswalk when you are crossing the street. 

Crosswalks, marked or unmarked, don't take away the broken bones, so be careful crossing the road.  However, you are undoubtedly better off to cross the street in a crosswalk, so take the steps and time to cross at a crosswalk.

Look for more posts on Pedestrian Safety.