united-states traffic
In the United States, do pedestrians always have right of way?
<p>There appear to be three types of pedestrian crossings in the United States:</p>

<ol>
<li><em>Marked</em>: an "official" crosswalk with some sort of markings or indication that it exists.</li>
<li><em>Unmarked</em>: According to wikipedia, "Unmarked crosswalks generally exist as the logical extensions of sidewalks at intersections with approximately right angles"</li>
<li><em>None</em>: when there is no crosswalk - "jaywalking"</li>
</ol>

<p>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking#United_States">Wikipedia</a></p>

<p>When pedestrians cross in a location where there is no crosswalk or disobey pedestrian traffic signals (i.e., jaywalk), what responsibilities do drivers have to those jaywalking pedestrians (if any), and what would (likely) happen were there to be an incident - especially, who would be culpable and what factors would influence that culpability?</p>

<p>This may be rather broad; if so, comment and I'll edit. Thanks!</p>

<p>This varies greatly by state, but the pedestrians "right of way" is quite a common misconception. Pedestrians do not <em>always</em> have the right of way, but you're also not allowed to just run them over if they're in the middle of the street. That's why states have jaywalking laws, and a lot of people don't realize that they <em>can</em> be ticketed for it - because it's a huge safety concern for a pedestrian to walk in the street outside the designated areas.</p>

<p>The NCSL provides a <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/pedestrian-crossing-50-state-summary.aspx">Pedestrian Crossing 50 State Summary</a> that outlines the laws regarding pedestrian crossing.</p>

<p>Particularly, there are two lines that frequently repeat throughout all the states:</p>

<ol>
<li><blockquote>
  <p>Pedestrians may not suddenly leave the curb and enter a crosswalk into the path of a moving vehicle that is so close to constitute an immediate hazard.</p>
</blockquote></li>
<li><blockquote>
  <p>Pedestrians must yield the right-of-way to vehicles when crossing outside of a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.</p>
</blockquote></li>
</ol>

<p>Bottom line: if there <em>is</em> a pedestrian randomly in the middle of the street somewhere, you are fully obligated to attempt to not hit them with your vehicle. Feel free to curse them out (if that's your thing) because in most states they are themselves breaking a law. If an accident can't be prevented due to a pedestrian's actions, then the pedestrian is fully at fault and you will not be held responsible in any way.</p>
