With more and more pedestrians taking to the streets of Florida, many are unaware of the laws and regulations regarding pedestrians in Florida.  Luckily the Florida Bicycle Association came out with a document titled the Florida Pedestrian Law Enforcement Guide to help clarify questions.  It is a review of Florida’s pedestrian traffic laws to help with warnings, citations and crash reports — all citations are to the 2008 Florida Statutes.

[Click Here to Download PDF Guide – Florida Pedestrian Law Enforcement Guide]

From the document:

Many of Florida’s streets and roads were laid out when there was little expectation of future pedestrian use. New streets and highways were designed to facilitate motor vehicle travel at higher speeds and to minimize delays at controlled intersections, so that slowing or stopping to observe the legal duty to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks became an unaccustomed inconvenience. Such conditions shaped a road user culture in which pedestrian use is usually sparse outside central business districts, and drivers and pedestrians have not acquired the shared experience that informs a sense of mutual obligations. Traffic law enforcement must be based on a recognized code of behavior. The challenge of pedestrian traffic enforcement is to promote greater appreciation and observance of practices conducive to pedestrian safety and mutual courtesy. 

The following are some key traffic principles for pedestrians and drivers:

• A road user’s right of way must be exercised with “due care.”

Traffic laws state who must yield the right of way to whom, but do not assign an absolute right of way. Signals, crosswalk markings, lane markings and other traffic control devices do not confer an absolute right of way for any user. Right of way must be exercised in a reasonable manner with “due care” for the safety of one’s self and of other road users.

• Pedestrians may cross at most mid-block locations, but must yield outside a crosswalk.

Mid-block crossing outside a crosswalk is allowed if, in either direction, the nearest intersection is unsignalized. When crossing mid-block, a pedestrian must yield to any approaching driver, except when crossing in a marked crosswalk.

• A driver is obliged to yield the right of way to a pedestrian lawfully crossing in a crosswalk.

Safe yielding requires stopping if the crossing pedestrian is in the driver’s lane, the lane into which the driver is turning, or an adjoining lane. A condition for crossing “lawfully” is that the pedestrian began crossing when it was legal to do so. A crosswalk is legally present on each leg of an intersection except where crossing is prohibited by signs. Crosswalks are left unmarked at most unsignalized intersections.

• If a sidewalk is provided, a pedestrian traveling along a street or road is obliged to use it if practical, otherwise to keep as far left as practical on the shoulder or other area available on left side of the roadway.

On a highway, a shoulder is generally graded. On a street with curbs, the leftmost graded area is simply the leftmost portion of the roadway pavement, not including the gutter.

[Click Here to Download PDF Guide – Florida Pedestrian Law Enforcement Guide]

Related posts:

1. Walk Miami – Cars and the Crosswalk
2. Walk Miami – Creating a Safer Pedestrian Experience
3. Walk Miami – Access to Brickell MetroRail
4. Walk Miami – More Visible Crosswalk Markings
5. Crosswalk Pattern For Brickell Avenue