Q: I know you’re supposed to yield to pedestrians crossing the street at an intersection, but does an alley count as an intersection?
A: An alley does not count as an intersection, but I don’t think that gets to the heart of your question. If I can take the liberty to interpret what you’re asking, I’d guess that what we’re getting at is, “Who yields to who (or is it whom?) where an alley meets a street?” And yes, it’s whom. I just checked.
Before I get to the law, I want to state a principle. You won’t find this in the Revised Code of Washington or in the Washington Driver Guide, but you will find it in Spiderman comic books. Some people call it the Peter Parker principle, and you’ve likely heard it before. Here it is: “With great power comes great responsibility.” I have my own variation of the principle, applied to driving: “The more damage you can cause, the greater your responsibility to be safe on the road.” I think you see where I’m going with this.
If you were to look up the definition of an intersection in the RCW, you might come away more confused than before you were when you started. To prove my point, here’s an excerpt from the law, describing an intersection as, “the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines.” In normal human speak, it’s when two or more roadways intersect. That would seem to include alleys, but down at the end of the definition the law states, “The junction of an alley with a street or highway shall not constitute an intersection.”
If you’re a long-time reader of this column, you know that crosswalks exist at intersections, whether they’re painted on the road (marked crosswalk) or not (unmarked crosswalk) and drivers are to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. Outside of crosswalks, pedestrians are supposed to yield to vehicles. Since intersections don’t include alleys, that would seem to suggest that pedestrians should yield to vehicles pulling into or out of an alley.
It’s not that simple though. What do we do with the many alleys (like the ones in my neighborhood) that have a curb cut in the sidewalk as the entry point to the alley? Do we yield to pedestrians when there is a sidewalk separating an alley from a street, but require pedestrians to yield to drivers when there’s no sidewalk? That sounds like a confusing mess; something that generally isn’t a good component to driving, and even worse if you’re a pedestrian.
I believe that the law always requires drivers to yield to pedestrians crossing an alley, and I think I can make my case with no more than three separate laws and three different scenarios.
Scenario One – Alleys that join a street with sidewalks: The law states that drivers “shall yield the right of way to any pedestrian, bicycle, or personal delivery device on a sidewalk.” That one is pretty clear. When the alley meets a sidewalk, drivers are supposed to yield. If that part about the personal delivery device sounds unfamiliar, that’s because it’s new. The law is anticipating the future when robots deliver your packages to your home.
Scenario Two – Driver emerging from an alley (no sidewalks): There’s actually a law just for this scenario. It states that a driver emerging from an alley shall stop before entering the street and yield to any pedestrians. This one is clear too.
Scenario Three – Driver turning into an alley (no sidewalks): Now it’s getting tricky. I can’t find a law that specifically addresses the requirements of a driver turning into an alley when there is no sidewalk separating the alley from the street. But there is a law that states that every driver “shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway.” At a minimum then, in this scenario both drivers and pedestrians should watch out for each other, but drivers have an overarching responsibility to not hit pedestrians. This is as close as the law gets to the Peter Parker principle.
In most situations it’s clear that the law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians where an alley meets a street. In the one scenario where it’s less clear, I believe (and I think the law agrees) that it’s still prudent for drivers to yield to pedestrians. My hope is that if we all take that approach we can avoid having a judge make the final interpretation post-crash.