• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

CVC 21950(a) Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.



PHK1853

Junior Member
Sorry. First time on this forum. I guess my message didn't get posted.

I was recently cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in ******ez, California. I realize that this topic has been debated endlessly on this forum but I was hoping to get some feedback on my situation. I have decided to go to court on my citation because I basically have nothing to lose. I'm not eligible to go to traffic school because I've been there within the last 18 months.

Following is what I plan to say in court including a summary of what happened:

I remember what happened very clearly because I was so deliberate about my actions at the time. (and also perhaps because it happened to be my 60th birthday).


I was in the process of exiting the XXXX Shopping Center in ******ez onto Center Ave.
• I stopped at the stop sign at the exit driveway, preparing to make a right turn.
• I saw a male pedestrian standing on the curb beside me to my right preparing to cross the street.
• I waited at the stop sign until he reached the median of Center Ave. (approximately 30 feet from the position of my vehicle) and then initiated my right turn.
• After I completed my turn I saw a police vehicle with its emergency lights on in my rearview mirror and pulled over to let him pass.
• I was stunned to realize that I was actually being pulled over and cited for failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian.

[I mentioned to the officer that I had waited until the pedestrian had reached the median to which the officer replied that the pedestrian ‘was nowhere close to the median”. With all due respect, that is simply not accurate. (I only intend to say this if the officer brings it up first.)] In any event, the pedestrian was well on his way across the street and moving away from my vehicle at the point in time that I initiated my turn.

The California Vehicle Code requires that “The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection…” It defines “Right-of-way” as “the privilege of the immediate use of the highway.”

By acknowledging the presence of the pedestrian, waiting for him to cross well out of my path of travel and by verifying that he was still moving away from my vehicle at the start of my turn I clearly yielded the right of way to the pedestrian. Because I was not impeding the pedestrian’s course of travel and no interference between us occurred or was reasonably to be expected I, by definition, yielded the right-of-way. The vehicle code does not say that a vehicle is prohibited from entering a crosswalk at any time it is occupied by a pedestrian or that a vehicle must wait until a pedestrian is fully across the street. It simply says to “yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian”. My actions at the time in question were in full compliance with the letter of the law. I ask that the citation be dismissed.

Because I was not impeding the pedestrian’s course of travel and no interference between us occurred or was reasonably to be expected, I did not deny him "the privilege of the immediate use of the highway" and, by definition, yielded the right-of-way.

I gladly welcome any comments or advice on my situation.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Yours is not going to be a problem of interpretation of the law. Yours is going to be a matter of the police officer believing the pedestrian was in a different spot than you claim.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top