Stop for crossing guard along same direction?

[Foresite]

In California.
When a crossing guard is in the street and children are crossing, are you supposed to stop when you are going the same direction they are? They are crossing north to south, you are driving north to south. I went through the intersection and a car driver in cross traffic honked at me and the crossing guard blew her whistle. Makes no sense to me if they aren't crossing against my direction. Is there a law about this?

 

[Taxing Matters]

California Vehicle Code (CVC) section 2815 simply makes it an offense to fail to obey the directions of a crossing guard. But the risk you run in doing what you did is that a kid will dash out to cross the intersection. Better to wait the 30 seconds or so it takes for the kids to get clear of the street than to hit one. No one should ever be in that much of a hurry that the few moments that takes would make any real difference in getting to their destination on time.

 

[Just Blue]

In California.
When a crossing guard is in the street and children are crossing, are you supposed to stop when you are going the same direction they are? They are crossing north to south, you are driving north to south. I went through the intersection and a car driver in cross traffic honked at me and the crossing guard blew her whistle. Makes no sense to me if they aren't crossing against my direction. Is there a law about this?

Don't be surprised if you get a citation in the mail...CG likely clicked a pic of your tag.

 

[Zigner]

There are a couple of scenarios that I see here. First, let's say that the kids were crossing to the OP's right and the car that was "cross-traffic" was on the left. Perhaps the car on the left intended to turn left, which meant that he also was allowed to go because his movement wouldn't have affected the children at all. OP stopped, then proceeded, but it was the cross-traffic's turn. This caused the cross traffic to be upset and honk, which caused the CG to blow the whistle out of caution. The other scenario is that the cross traffic thought the OP might be turning right instead of going straight, so he honked as a warning about the kids. This, again, caused the CG to blow the whistle out of caution. In either case, I don't see that the OP did anything wrong if he was going straight, parallel to the kids crossing the street.

 

[Zigner]

Don't be surprised if you get a citation in the mail...CG likely clicked a pic of your tag.

I don't believe that's going to happen.

 

[Just Blue]

I don't believe that's going to happen.

No?

 

[Zigner]

No?

No, because the OP did nothing wrong (based only on the information given, of course). As always, it is possible that something has been left out of the story.

 

[CdwJava]

Don't be surprised if you get a citation in the mail...CG likely clicked a pic of your tag.

Cites here go to the driver and not the registered owner. No cite is likely to issue from such a photo unless the driver is able to be identified.

 

[CdwJava]

In California.
When a crossing guard is in the street and children are crossing, are you supposed to stop when you are going the same direction they are? They are crossing north to south, you are driving north to south. I went through the intersection and a car driver in cross traffic honked at me and the crossing guard blew her whistle. Makes no sense to me if they aren't crossing against my direction. Is there a law about this?

Yes, honking without legitimate purpose can be an infraction.

No, you do not have to stop if the children are crossing in your direction and no indication to stop has been made by the crossing guard. In some areas, they might block an entire intersection for crossing. But, if they were directing traffic north-south only, then only intersecting east-west traffic, or vehicles turning to cross the crosswalk in question, would be prohibited.

 

[Foresite]

There are a couple of scenarios that I see here. First, let's say that the kids were crossing to the OP's right and the car that was "cross-traffic" was on the left. Perhaps the car on the left intended to turn left, which meant that he also was allowed to go because his movement wouldn't have affected the children at all. OP stopped, then proceeded, but it was the cross-traffic's turn. This caused the cross traffic to be upset and honk, which caused the CG to blow the whistle out of caution. The other scenario is that the cross traffic thought the OP might be turning right instead of going straight, so he honked as a warning about the kids. This, again, caused the CG to blow the whistle out of caution. In either case, I don't see that the OP did anything wrong if he was going straight, parallel to the kids crossing the street.

Kids were crossing on my left, there was a car in front of me that was turning left so he had to wait. The person that honked was on the right, waiting to go in the direction of the kids. I went around the guy in front of me and went through intersection. My impression of the situation was that since all cars at all stop signs were stopped, the guy who honked just went with groupthink and assumed all cars were supposed to stop so he thought he'd put me in check. Then since he honked, the crossing guard decided to jump on the bandwagon and get his back by blowing her whistle at me.

Could also be that the crossing guard overdoes it and stops same direction traffic all the time and the person who honked is familiar with the area and her methods and thinks parallel traffic is supposed to stop for that reason. I was near the area later and the crossing guard was still blowing her whistle at cars, so she's probably a bully crossing guard that has people familiar with the area under her control.

 

[cbg]

Seriously? If the biggest problem in your life is that someone honked at you, thank your lucky stars and get on with your life.

 

[CdwJava]

Crossing guards and traffic cops do a lot of whistle blowing. It is as much to signal the pedestrians as it is to signal the cars. You do not appear to have done anything wrong, so don't stress about it.

 

[adjusterjack]

Seriously? If the biggest problem in your life is that someone honked at you, thank your lucky stars and get on with your life.

And thank your lucky stars you don't live in NYC where people behind you honk their horns the absolute nano-second the light turns green.

 

[Foresite]

Seriously? If the biggest problem in your life is that someone honked at you, thank your lucky stars and get on with your life.

Where did I say this was the biggest problem in my life? I was trying to find the answer to the question in the title. Don't make stupid comments.

 

[Foresite]

Crossing guards and traffic cops do a lot of whistle blowing. It is as much to signal the pedestrians as it is to signal the cars. You do not appear to have done anything wrong, so don't stress about it.

My main concern was if the honker or someone else had a video camera and if that was an illegal crossing, it could come back on me. I was delivering packages for Amazon, then ended up having to come back and make a delivery in the same area, where parents were parked all along the street, and people love to report people and could report my plates and show video to Amazon to have me terminated. But as I thought, I did nothing wrong. Thanks.