Oregon Crosswalk Laws - Every Corner is a Crosswalk
Wed, June 3, 2009 1:55pm
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has released a short animated film on Oregon crosswalk laws. From the Bureau of Transportation press release:
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Police and local pedestrian and bicycle groups are announcing the release of a new 3.5 minute animated film about Oregon crosswalk laws. The film, “Every Corner Is A Crosswalk”, graphically illustrates responsibilities that both drivers and pedestrians have to make our roadway safer for everyone.
Pedestrian safety has long been a concern for the City. In downtown Portland, 72% of pedestrian collisions are a result of driver error. Citywide, 49% of pedestrian injuries happen in a crosswalk. One out of three traffic fatalities is a pedestrian or a bicyclist (Portland 1985 – 2000), and pedestrian injuries are the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children.
According to Oregon law, ORS 811.028, drivers must stop and remain stopped until pedestrians crossing the street clear the driver’s lane plus the lane before and the lane after the driver’s lane. If the driver is at an intersection with a traffic control devise, the driver must stop and remain stopped until pedestrians crossing the street clear the driver’s lane plus 6’ on either side of the driver’s lane. If the person is blind and using a white cane or seeing eye dog, the driver must wait for the pedestrian to cross curb to curb regardless of the length of the crossing.
Intersections and pedestrian crossings are frequently busy places with a variety of distractions competing for the attention of drivers. This new video is a light-hearted tool to teach and inform Portlanders about Oregon crosswalk laws. “As pedestrians and drivers we need to all be more cautious and courteous and work collaboratively to keep Portland the wonderful city that it is,” says Mayor Adams. “By working together we will lower pedestrian injuries and fatalities and make our transportation system safer for all modes.”
Using animated characters, accentuated pedestrian and driver movements, and music as reinforcement, the film demonstrates drivers properly stopping for pedestrians at an unmarked, a mid-block, and a traffic controlled intersection with a marked crossing. The pedestrians in the film appropriately put one foot into the crossing to indicate their intent to cross. For safety, they always look before crossing and continue to look while they cross. Before passing each lane of traffic, they correctly stop and look to ensure that oncoming traffic has stopped before they proceed forward.
Funding for the animated film was provided by ODOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In addition, Animated Traffic Law Center provided a significant amount of pro bono work to complete the project. Community partners that supported this film include Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Elders In Action, Legacy Emanuel Hospital Trauma Nurses Talk Tough, ODOT, TriMet, City of Portland and others.
The animated film will be shown this summer before Portland Park & Recreation’s “Movies in the Park” film showings, at specific DMV offices, facilities that serve the needs of recent immigrants and other community facilities.
For more information about the film or to schedule a viewing of the film for your group or organization, please contact Sharon White, City of Portland Bureau of Transportation, (503) 823-7100 or sharon.white@pdxtrans.org.
Comments
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I think that all PPS students should see this before school is out for the summer!
Great video! I'd like to see the same approach used to raise awareness of basic traffic rules for all road users: pedestrians, autos, motorcycles and scooters, and bicycles.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for this video. It is a much better policy of driver and pedestrian education and outreach than setting up "operations" (aka: Entrapping motorists) and giving them a ticket with an option to take a class in order to get the fine dropped.
This video and the outreach with it is a much better policy and should have been done when the law (ORS ORS 811.028) passed. Thank you.
Good video. The problem that often occurs on my commute is that there are prople that are waiting for the bus that are often stepping into the street to look down the street for the bus. I see this every day and traffic totally ignores them. Are we suppose to stop everytime one of these folks step off the curb to look for the bus and wait until they get back on the sidewalk? Often they stand in the street waiting for the bus so abidding by this law would require two lanes of traffic to wait until they get out of the street or until the bus comes.
Great video! This is a hot button issue for me. I live near S.E. Division and crossing Division is a nightmare. Traffic seldom stops for pedestrians, and there is no marked crosswalk between 34th and 39th. I have stood at the corner of S.E. Division and 37th with a toddler and a stroller for minutes on end, watching the cars fly by.
I would say that they video implies I have to actually step into traffic to get the cars to stop, which seems a bit risky, don't you think?
Thanks again for making the video.
Actually, this article is in error on one important point. ORS 811.028 states that the "six foot rule" only applies (a) when the driver is turning into a crosswalk, and (b) there is a traffic control device under which a pedestrian may proceed.
Otherwise, when the driver is not turning, the driver must remain stopped as long as the pedestrian is in the driver's lane OR the adjacent lane. If the driver is turning and there is no traffic control device, the driver must wait until the lane into which he is turning, and the lane adjacent to that lane, is cleared by the pedestrian.
You may read it for yourself at http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/811.html
Re: ped
Yes, just as many cyclists are jerks as motorists.
Re: Anne
Yes, the law says you must step out into the lane to force the cars to stop. There was a bill to propose a hand signal but it failed --- people thought it was silly! My girlfriend and I used to do an exaggerated silly walk up to the corner to make it very clear we were about to enter the intersection. It usually works.
I just got yelled at by a lady driver behind me because I stopped to let a pedestrian cross in a legal pedestrian walk on Powell in Gresham. She apparently was not paying attention and ended up stopping short as did the gentlemen behind her. Granted the walk was not yet marked because they have been paving but it was still evident it was a pedestrian crosswalk and that someone wanted to cross the street. Nobody was injured and no cars contacted bumpers. But drivers need to be made more aware of the pedestrian laws and be on the lookout for pedestrians and and expect cars in front of them to stop for said pedestrians. This experience made me think that I need to be more aware as well. Too bad they don't show a short video commercial on TV that clarifies drivers responsibilities in regards to pedestrians as well as bicyclist. My understanding is that pedestrians have the right of way regardless of where they cross, whether it is marked or not.
this is cute but not true. cars do not stop for you. it is getting VERY dangerous to cross at 12th and hawthorn/ladd and mlk and clay. when half way threw the intersection cars will aim at you. when i asked for help from the police they sent me this video.
I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO? I GOT A JAYWALKING TICKET FOR ...GET THIS...$142.00 FOR JAYWALKING?! I REALLY DON'T CONSIDER WHAT I DID JAYWALKING.
LONG STORY SHORT-----3AM WALKING HOME FROM WORK, EXHAUSTED, HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM BADLY. I STOPPED AT THE CROSS WALK SIGN AT GLISAN AND BROADWAY DOWNTOWN. NO CARS COMING OR GOING IN ANY DIRECTION, NOT EVEN A BICYCLIST. AT 3AM ON A WED. PORTLAND'S STREETS ARE EMPTY. I DID SEE THE POLICE CAR A BLOCK UP CROSSING ON THE NEXT INTERSECTION. I STARTED TO CROSS EARLY ON THE DON'T WALK SIGN, IT TURNED TO WALK TWO FEET FROM ME STEPPING OFF THE CURB. I TOOK A RIGHT AFTER CROSSING THE STREET STILL NO CARS AT ALL. THEN 'BLAM' THE POLICE CAR I SAW A BLOCK AWAY CAME UP BEHIND ME, ALL LIGHTS FLASHING, STOPPED NEXT TO ME, THEY TOLD ME TO GET MY HANDS UP IN THE AIR. A FEMALE OFFICER STEPPED OUT AND INFORMED ME THAT I JAYWALKED. WTF????
TWO OFFICERS ONE FEMALE AND MALE, BOTH WERE SUPER COCKY AND QUESTIONING EVERYTHING, I FELT CONFUSED AND EXHAUSTED FROM THEIR LINE OF QUESTIONING AND STRONG ATTITUDES. THE FEMALE TOOK MY I.D. AND CHECKED OUT MY BACKGROUND WHILE THE MALE OFFICER...fucking jackass....STOOD A FOOT FROM MY FACE TRYING TO ANTAGONIZE ME TO DO SOMETHING MORE, LIKE HE WANTED ME REACT SO HE COULD GET MORE TO TAG ME WITH?!? THEN A SEPARATE OFFICER CAME UP AND STOOD A FOOT ON THE OTHER SIDE ME BOTH OF THEM HAD ARMS FOLDED AND REAL FUCKED UP ATTITUDES. THE FEMALE JUST KEPT WRITING THE TICKET IN THE CAR. WELL THE FIRST OFFICER WAS SHARP AND RUDE TO EVERYTHING I HAD TO SAY. I EVEN SAID 'WOW, ISN'T THIS OVER-KILL FOR A JAYWALKING, YOU GUYS MUST BE REALLY BORED AND AMPIED ON COFFEE!" HE SAID, "NO ALL THE COFFEE SHOPS ARE CLOSED, I AM AMPIED ON METHAMPHETAMINE'S!" THAT'S WHEN I JUST DECIDED TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS COP DRAMA, I DIDN'T KNOW IF HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH OR NOT. JUST CAUSE THEY HAVE A BADGE DOESN'T MEAN I AM SAFE IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. I KNOW I WAS OFFENDED BECAUSE I AM IN RECOVERY. I FELT VERY ALONE OUT THERE WITH THESE IDIOTS, I FELT SINGLED OUT FOR A CRIME THAT PEOPLE DO EVERYDAY WITH TRAFFIC COMING AND GOING, I STILL HAD TO USED THE BATHROOM, I WAS WORK EXHAUSTED. SO THEN THE FEMALE OFFICER GAVE ME MY TICKET, THEY ALL MADE SOME SMART-ASSED REMARKS TO ME AND TO THEMSELVES AS I WAS WALKING ON. THAT WAS THAT. SO REALLY, WHAT THE HELL DO I DO ABOUT A VERY HARSH MOMENT WITH THE POLICE, A JAYWALKING TICKET AS THE WALK SIGN TURNED TO WALK, AND A $142 TICKET??????????
@raybie: You've just experienced Portland's finest. Congratulations! Just be thankful that they did not shoot you. As for the video, what a waste of tax dollars.
So how do I go about getting an actual crosswalk painted at NE Cully and Mason, where a bus stop is on either side of the street and the nearest crosswalk is over 1000 feet away? There is a bend in the road that makes it difficult for drivers to see pedestrians, plus they just don't seem to care. I've seen little old ladies run for their lives, and I have to step out into the lane itself, which forces them to stop if I'm lucky, but most often drivers race right by me. Even if one side stops for me, I'm still not safe -- the opposite side is another matter, so I am usually left in the middle of two-way commuter traffic, waving my arms hopelessly in the air trying to get the cars to stop.
Today, not even a police car stopped for me.
Publicizing this law is going to get someone killed. I'm a frequent pedestrian, and I can tell you that more often than not, traffic on any busy street (e.g. Fremont, Broadway let alone MLK or Grand) is not going to stop just because I start to cross. You would think city vehicles like buses would be particularly sensitive to this issue but they seem no better than anyone else. Surprisingly, UPS and FedEx drivers seem to me more likely to yield to pedestrians.
I can't tell you how many times we walk across Hawthorne Blvd, only to watch vehicle traffic stop, but then wait in the vehicle lane to watch not even one single bicyclist stop for us.
Bicyclists need to be aware of laws as well as everyone else.