Q&A - Swinging Wide to Pass

I was walking with a friend on a relatively busy road. We were walking in the white painted sidewalk portion facing traffic, so heading East towards Memorial. We were engaged in a conversation and didn’t hear the garbage truck approaching in the other lane (the right hand lane heading East) as garbage trucks do, he stopped to pick up garbage.

All of a sudden two (count them two) vehicles passed the truck and literally passed using the other lane and encroached within inches of the white painted line that separated us from near disaster. I literally jumped and yelled out of surprise and fear, which then turned to anger as the two vehicles veered back onto the right lane and continued on their way.

How could they have been so reckless?

Was this lawful to pass a garbage truck while there were pedestrians to their immediate left on a marked sidewalk?

I believe there is a double solid line at that location but with the addition of pedestrians, are they not breaking the law?

I was so angry I broke my sacred rule of one finger salutes. I never do this and was disappointed with my action. Nothing came of their or my actions but I wish I could have reacted fast enough to see a license plate.

Answer

You didn't say where you were on West Crescent, so I chose an eastbound view along the 100 block toward Memorial:

There are no sidewalks here, just the shoulder of the road indicated by the solid white lines. The center line is a single solid yellow line. You were walking as required by the rules:

Pedestrian walking along highway

182 (2) If there is no sidewalk, a pedestrian walking along or on a highway must walk only on the extreme left side of the roadway or the shoulder of the highway, facing traffic approaching from the opposite direction.

The pickup drivers are allowed to pass here:

Highway lines

155 (1) Despite anything in this Part, if a highway is marked with

(c) one single line, broken or solid, the driver of a vehicle must drive the vehicle to the right of the line, except only when passing an overtaken vehicle.

However, there are many onuses on the drivers to do this with safety:

Passing on left

159 A driver of a vehicle must not drive to the left side of the roadway in overtaking and passing another vehicle unless the driver can do so in safety.

Clear view on passing

160 A driver of a vehicle must not drive to or on the left side of the roadway, other than on a one way highway, unless the driver has a clear view of the roadway for a safe distance, having regard for all the circumstances.

Duty of driver

181 Despite sections 178, 179 and 180, a driver of a vehicle must

(a) exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian who is on the highway,

(b) give warning by sounding the horn of the vehicle when necessary, and

Given your description, it would appear that they were not being considerate.

New Sidewalk

They must have read my email that you posted here.

There is now a crosswalk on the old Island Highway where I last wrote about. At the end of Bay Street. How cool is that?

In my humble opinion that will make crossing there a lot safer. Funny, the other person that responded to my writing said “Most pedestrians are struck in a marked crosswalk”. I mentioned that to my very analytical friend and he said “Gee, I guess they should do away with all crosswalks and save a lot of lives”. Obviously he was being sarcastic but it was a point well made.

Lanes

Pedestrians

Q&A