Do Pedestrians Always Have The Right of Way in New York?

Commuting across New York State sees a variety of ways of people getting to and from their destinations. While many are driving there are others who take bikes, scooters, or even walk to get to work or school. What I've found since walking around the City of Albany is that many drivers are not considering the safety of walkers.

Here's my story

I walk several times a day around my Albany neighborhood. Now, for the most part I would consider this a very safe thing to do. I take my kids around here and there haven't been too many issues, but recently I have found that many drivers are not obeying the pedestrian right of way. My walks take me across New Scotland Ave and South Manning and those are busy streets. There are usually people waiting to cross at those points especially with St. Peter's Hospital being right there.

As I was waiting for the walk sign to tell me it was safe to cross there was decent traffic over the weekend. Once it gave me the go-ahead to cross I started to go and was almost hit by someone taking a right. Then I was almost his again when someone taking a left accelerated to try and blow past me.

This is concerning for me because it means that people are blatantly ignoring the clear pedestrian laws laid out by New York State.

A pedestrian has the right of way when the pedestrian signal shows a steady “Walk” sign or person symbol.

I know that there are also pedestrians that will also disobey these laws but a car is a very dangerous weapon. If  pedestrian walks into a car the car will be fine, but not the other way around. Everyone, walking or otherwise, needs to use caution when out.

My hypothesis is that this uptick in people not paying attention is die to colleges being back in session and new drivers and people unfamiliar with the are driving in them.

Pedestrian safety review

According to Orlow Law, over 8,000 pedestrians were injured in accidents around NYC  in 2023. Almost 100 were killed as a result. While that number is lower than previous years, it's still far too many.

Just remember to not only look for traffic when you're driving, but also people crossing the road. Right on red is not a guarantee, so don't abuse it. For those of you going left, make sure to watch those crosswalk signs so that you don't end up in the wrong.