Is a pedestrian entitled to assume that they are in the right-of-way?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Paskall v. Scheithauer, 2014 BCCA 26 (CanLII):
In Miksch v. Hambleton, [1990] B.C.J. No. 1810, Mr. Justice Donald, sitting as a trial judge, suggested that once a pedestrian is lawfully in a crosswalk, absent overt conduct that “could mislead motorists into thinking they may proceed safely”, pedestrians are entitled to assume that motorists will yield the right-of-way and “will share no responsibility if struck in the crosswalk”. Neither the pedestrian nor the driver saw each other. Donald J. noted that the plaintiff hesitated at the centre of the intersection. He found that “she must have thought that any oncoming traffic would stop for her”.
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