Walking in Waterloo Region

[Markster]

Sorry, I think I just proved my own point about miseducation. If a person on foot gives sufficient time/space for a car obeying the speed limit to slow to avoid hitting him or her, I thought that was kosher.

Also, how does it work with a 'T' intersection like Weichel and Victoria? I know that there is a legal crosswalk in existence anywhere where a sidewalk intersects with a street (maybe don't try this at home, either), but what about if the street/sidewalk does not continue on the other side?

“crosswalk” means,
(a) that part of a highway at an intersection that is included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in the absence of curbs, from the edges of the roadway, or
(b) any portion of a roadway at an intersection or elsewhere distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs or by lines or other markings on the surface; (“passage protégé pour piétons”)

“pedestrian crossover” means any portion of a roadway, designated by by-law of a municipality, at an intersection or elsewhere, distinctly indicated for pedestrian crossing by signs on the highway and lines or other markings on the surface of the roadway as prescribed by the regulations;

There are few regulations that speak directly to crosswalks.
Basically, you must stop your car before the crosswalk (whether marked or not), and:

When under this section a driver is permitted to proceed, the driver shall yield the right of way to pedestrians lawfully within a crosswalk

If you didn't have to stop your car, then there's no yielding for the pedestrians.

Contrary to common practice, you can enter a crossing while there's an approaching vehicle, as long as there's time for them to stop. Whether you trust them to stop is another matter. The "irritation point" for a driver usually seems to be not whether they have time to stop, but rather whether they have to slow down at all.

No pedestrian or person in a wheelchair shall leave the curb or other place of safety at a pedestrian crossover and walk, run or move the wheelchair into the path of a vehicle or street car that is so close that it is impracticable for the driver of the vehicle or street car to yield the right of way.

When a pedestrian is crossing on the roadway within a pedestrian crossover, the driver of a vehicle approaching the crossover,
(a) shall stop before entering the crossover;
(b) shall not overtake another vehicle already stopped at the crossover; and
© shall not proceed into the crossover until the pedestrian is no longer on the roadway.

Whoops, I found the part that makes mid-block crossing illegal...ish.

Where portions of a roadway are marked for pedestrian use, no pedestrian shall cross the roadway except within a portion so marked.

But how far that extends from a crosswalk is up for interpretation. This is what's often thrown around in these cases.