Pedestrians drivers and rolling stops
Pedestrians drivers and rolling stops are a recipe for disaster. If you are a rolling stop type driver your part of the problem. Thousands of pedestrians a year are injured or killed by drivers not coming to a complete stop.
What is a complete stop?
Let’s define a complete stop? I guess the best way to describe it is to first describe what a rolling stop is. That way you will know the difference.
Rolling Stop Definition
As a commercial driver, I have received training to recognize a complete stop. Here is my definition of a complete stop.
A complete stop occurs when your body rocks into the back of the seat after your vehicle has stopped moving forward. As you are braking, the stopping force is pulling your body toward the steering wheel. You are resisting this movement without knowing it. When the vehicle has come to a complete stop it no longer has forward momentum and your body rocks back into the back of the seat. If you do not feel this movement before accelerating again you did not come to a complete stop.
Why do people not stop at intersections?
There all sorts of reasons for this bad habit, but I believe that most of the time it is the clock which drives this habit. That and most drivers really don’t know what a complete stop really feels like. I certainly didn’t know it until I trained for my commercial driver’s license.
How much time do you save by not stopping?
Do you really save time by not stopping? Really if you look at the total time savings it is a second or two tops.
Let’s do the math. If you’re rolling up to the stop and you slow down to 5 mph. The formula looks like this 5 mph=(5 x 5280 ft.)÷ (60 minutes x 60 seconds.). This totals out to 7.3 ft per second. Two seconds of time saved equals out to 14.6 ft. that is not even the length of a midsize car.
The difference is 10 to 20 feet in arrival time if everything goes perfectly. But you can never count on perfect in today’s traffic conditions. You can lose that amount of time on a traffic light. Also, two seconds twenty feet sooner is not worth the life that you could take if you don’t come to a complete stop.
Can you decide if you have come to a full stop?
Absolutely you can decide each time you come to a complete stop. Wait for the moment when your body rocks back into the seat back. All you need to do is tune your mental alertness to look for that moment to happen.
Pedestrian Right of Way Rules
The right of way rules always favors the pedestrian. Essentially pedestrians have the right of way when in a crosswalk area. It doesn’t matter if they are walking against the light. The rules vary slightly between states.
Who’s at risk in crosswalks
Read the entire Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State report(click here)
Want to know about Pedestrian right of way rules for your state(click here)
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(By Tomwsulcer (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons)
(By Kavibhalla at English Wikipedia (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)
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