Hal, it will be
interesting to see if Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams is willing to
weigh in on this issue. In my opinion, in order to constitute a violation of
the pedestrian right of way it would require only that the motorist's
actions caused the pedestrian to deviate from his/her normal pace of movement
while traversing the intersection. There is no need for the motorist to wait
beyond the point where the pedestrian has safely cleared the space that
the motorist intends to occupy while continuing in his direction of travel. Say
the motorist is in the right turn lane at an intersection. And suppose that the
pedestrian has just moved through the forward path the motorist intends, which
is a right turn. The motorist should not have to wait the additional time for
the pedestrian to reach the half way point in the intersection before the
driver moves forward to make his right turn. This is more like
art than science. It is a dance between two moving objects, one human
and one steel and plastic that is controlled by a human. It shouldn't be too
difficult for a cop to differentiate between a clear violation and one that
does not rise to the level of issuing a ticket.
Bruce Philpott