In The New York Times Magazine, John Hodgman answers a question about driving in Massachusetts: what should a driver do when someone is standing on the sidewalk at a Yield to Pedestrians crosswalk, not yet crossing? Hodgman says the driver should yield: “Don’t be a masshole.”
What Hodgman doesn’t make explicit is that yielding for someone still on the sidewalk isn’t required by Massachusetts law. But says a Cambridge lawyer experienced in crosswalk cases: "If they have the intent of crossing within a reasonable distance of it, then yeah, you gotta stop."
[Drivers in Brookline (the town referenced in Hodgman’s piece) really do stop at Yield to Pedestrian signs, at least the ones in Coolidge Corner, at least most of the time, at least in my experience. I’ve added commas to the lawyer’s sentence.]
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Yielding in Massachusetts
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comments: 2
In my yoot I lived on a two-lane highway, and learned to wait at the roadside for an opening in traffic, then cross.
In my oldage I park in a village lot and wait at the crosswalk for an opening in traffic, and cars stop to let me cross. It's very nice, but seems wrong somehow.
I know the feeling. I’m thinking of when a kid on the subway offered me his seat.
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