Smiles, please remember it do not matter that person was crossing the street illegally, as was posted by other people pedestrian has right of way
A pedestrian crossing the street in an illegal manner does not have the right of way.
(That doesn't make it OK to him them or endanger them!) Regardless, the pedestrian passed the to the other half of the road, at which point a driver is free to move on. The right of way is clearly outlined in § 40-6-91. Once the pedestrian has moved off the driver's side of road, the vehicle has the right of way.
The same holds true for my home state. Additionally, you don't have to stop for a pedestrian approaching your side of the street until they're within 10 feet of your side. So a pedestrian can be potentially legally in the crosswalk in the oncoming traffic lane, and I can still drive through the crosswalk. The same is true the moment the pedestrian has moved off my side of the roadway. The Georgia code says almost the same thing, except they refer to half the roadway instead of a fixed size of 10 feet.
I am not suggesting that pedestrians don't trump vehicles or that drivers can recklessly disregard pedestrians, as both drivers and pedestrians can make exceedingly poor judgments. Personally, I would have continued to stop until the pedestrian made the halfway mark and was out of harm's way (including assessing the pedestrian's situation as they move to the other side of the road, if visible). But a pedestrian violating the law is certainly a circumstance you would want to present to a judge to allow him or her to more appropriately assess the situation as it occurred.
Here is how it can be shown that the pedestrian was violating the law:
O.C.G.A. § 40-6-22 (2) - see my link above - clearly states that a pedestrian shall not enter the crosswalk when the signal is flashing DON'T WALK.
Apply some math and knowledge of basic civil engineering: As a general rule, a WALK light is lit for at least 3-4 seconds before it becomes a flashing DON'T WALK. Once it begins flashing, a pedestrian should have enough time to complete walking across the street or to the median halfway (depending on street configuration).
A pedestrian crosswalk typically begins to flash the DON'T WALK signal anywhere from 10-18 seconds before it goes solid. If this was a multilane crosswalk, as implied, the signal would have begun flashing about 18 seconds before going solid. A person traveling at 2mph (very casual) would cross 4 lanes of traffic (48 ft) in about 16 seconds. Even if it was four lanes on one side, they would have been able to easily amble across the haldway point. And then there's often a couple of seconds before the traffic light turns green for vehicles.
The OP should sit and count the number of seconds it takes at that intersection and that time of day. (That is, how many seconds are solid WALK and flashing DON'T WALK.) This should help show that the pedestrian was in violation, which may have reduced his options as he approached the intersection.
My apologies to anyone using the links I used above: You need to access them using the free link provided by the state of Georgia at
this page. Choose 'Laws of the State of Georgia'. You can use a search engine to find other copies of the Georgia Code online as well.
It says that the pedestrian has to be on the half of the road that I'm on or approaching that half. He was neither. He was walking in the other direction and had already crossed my half.
So...am I still guilty?
Fortunately, that's not for us to decide.
If you weren't at least yielding to the pedestrian, that doesn't speak well. You said you were slowing down from an excessive speed (you said the limit was 35) to just the speed limit. You'd have had a stronger case if you had been slowing down below the speed limit, and then just maintained your speed once the pedestrian had passed to the other side of the road.
You have a chance, but you'll need to be persuasive and honestly assess your situation. Even if you take this to court and are let off, please be more careful of pedestrians - even if they are violating the law and don't have the right of way.
