I’d like to nominate the intersection of 4th & Catherine as the most problematic. Although that is clearly a 4-way stop with very clearly marked crosswalks, I have on several occasions begun to cross and had someone enter the intersection from the other side (typically it is westbound traffic) and actually move their cars toward my body, which I resent.

What I used to do is wave drivers on at the crosswalks in that area, where there are several 4-way stops and I would act as part of the traffic pattern as a pedestrian. However, the new law has made that confusing for the driver. As abc says, I sometimes just make a pronounced step back but I’m not sure that is helpful either.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not thinking that we need a new or revised law that tells pedestrians how to walk, or tries to define the ‘must cross the street’ zone. I just think we need to acknowledge that pedestrians and drivers have very different abilities to adapt to the other. If a driver would drive calmly and generously (to borrow from The Chronicle’s commenting policy) and if a pedestrian would be conscious of the fact that their body language and eye contact are ‘read’ by drivers. When I drive I try to notice where a pedestrian is looking which helps me to know which way they will probably walk. However some here (possibly as a result of this simplistic law) just walk into a crosswalk without acknowledging the drivers by making eye contact. When I am a pedestrian I also try to approach intersections calmly and I look down the road to show drivers that I intend to cross and if I am NOT sure I am going to cross I back away from the curb. In short, a good driver is indeed thinking about, and considering, what a pedestrian might do; and a good pedestrian is doing the same for the drivers.

As amended on Dec. 19, 2011, Ann Arbor’s city ordinance actually reads [emphasis added]: “the driver of a vehicle shall stop before entering a crosswalk and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian stopped at the curb, curb line or ramp leading to a crosswalk and to every pedestrian within a crosswalk, when the pedestrian is on the half of the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.”

I get that its the law, but its only the law for those that are IN the crosswalk, not those that might, maybe or are thinking about crossing at some point.

Try seeing those people on that dark street at 7am during the winter. You can’t see them.

Maybe the city can light the street more and it will be safer for everyone.

Crossing beacon at 7th and Washington: saw someone there with a video camera, another person pushed the button to activate beacon, cars didn’t stop. I was wondering if that’s what they were hoping to capture on video… (I was crossing on the other side of Washington and late for meeting so didn’t stop to chat.)