Look before you go, even when the light is yours

The sign shows the walking figure, or the light has gone green. You have done nothing wrong, and by the rules it is your turn. That is the moment this page is about.

When a green light or a walk signal says it is your turn, look each way once more before you move, because the signal says who should stop and not who will.

It is a glance, not a change of personality. If that sounds too obvious to say, some people answer that knowing it and doing it, with the signal in your favour, are different things.

Being in the right does not keep you safe

Many people say the same thing in different words: having the right of way gives you a claim, and no protection. A vehicle that ignores the signal does not care who was right, and many people say your physical safety comes before being legally correct. Some people say to plan on the basis that other road users may be distracted, in a hurry or ignoring the rules, whatever they owe you by law. One person puts the physics bluntly: when different kinds of vehicle collide, the lighter one suffers most.

The rulebook puts the duty on the driver and does not move the risk off you. The UK Highway Code says the people in charge of vehicles that can do the most harm carry the most responsibility to take care, and that drivers should give way to people crossing or waiting to cross a road they are turning into. That is a rule about blame. It does not change what a car does to a person.

One person says that using the marked crossing keeps you from being at fault if you are hit, but that getting anything back from a driver can be hopeless. This page does not cover legal recourse.

On foot

The UK Highway Code’s advice for people on foot is concrete: stop just before the kerb where you can see what is coming, look all around and listen, go straight across without running, and keep looking and listening while you cross. At a crossing where traffic must stop, check that it has stopped before you start; at pedestrian signals, start only when the green figure shows. It also says to look out for traffic turning into the road, especially from behind you, and to cross where drivers can see you. At night it says to wear something reflective. One person says dark clothes on a dark, wet night leave you hard to see whatever eye contact you make.

Some people warn that looking before you step is not enough, and that you have to keep checking during the crossing. Some people say to let a vehicle come to a full stop before you cross in front of it, and not to go on a driver’s apparent intention to stop. One person corrects a common belief: drivers stop for you only when they have a duty to, so standing near a crossing does not make cars stop.

Turning vehicles are a hazard of their own. One person says that even with a green signal or the right of way, a turning vehicle is a major hazard. The Highway Code tells drivers to take special care when turning on a green and to give way to people crossing, and it tells you to look out for turning traffic. The first rule is the driver’s job. The second is yours.

Some people say that at busier junctions walkers get a few seconds’ head start before the cars’ green, and one person says that gap also shows you whether a car is still coming.

If you are not crossing, some people say not to stand at the crossing waving cars on, because it confuses drivers and other walkers. And some people warn that a driver’s wave covers only that driver’s lane; a vehicle in the next lane may not have stopped. There is a page here called A wave is not a green light that goes into this.

Eye contact, wheels and what you can trust

People are split on how to know a driver has seen you, and this page cannot settle it.

• Some people say to make eye contact, so you know the driver has seen you before you cross.
• Others warn it gives false security: one person says a driver can look straight at you and not register you, and some people say drivers on phones glance at the light and miss walkers. One person adds that tinted windows rule it out, and another that it does less in places where drivers do not expect anyone to cross. One person says motorcyclists can look at you and still pull out.
• One person says to watch the wheels instead, because they show a car is still moving. Others say that tells you little, because the first few feet of a car’s path are dangerous whichever way it goes.

What both sides can use is the Highway Code’s line for crossings where traffic must stop: check that it has stopped. A look is a guess about what the driver will do, and a vehicle that has stopped is not a guess. One person says some walkers stare at drivers to dare them and not to check, and another argues you should stride across and show you will not give way. Whichever posture you take, the check is the same.

At the wheel

Many people say the same about green lights: before you enter the junction, look across it. One person says red-light runners are often cars just entering as your light changes. The UK Highway Code says green means you may go on if the way is clear, and to take special care if you are turning and give way to people crossing.

Where people stop agreeing is the pause. Some people suggest waiting a couple of seconds after the light turns green, to let a late runner through. Others give reasons against it. One person says sitting at a green confuses the drivers behind you, who may blow their horns or swerve round you. One person says it breaks the timing of the signals and builds a queue. Some people say it invites a rear-end collision, because following drivers expect you to move, and some say that in dense city traffic it draws immediate horns. One person says that if drivers see you waiting, they may use the gap to run the light themselves. One person says that in some places the lights are timed with a clearing delay, so the wait adds little.

This page does not tell you to pause. What the people who object suggest instead is to do the looking earlier: scan the junction while you wait at the red, so that on green you need only a glance and can move off smoothly, and stop only if you see a vehicle that is not going to.

If you cannot see across the junction, one person says that on a motorcycle it is valid to wait longer or creep forward until you can, and not to enter until it is safe. Another warns that crawling through leaves you exposed to cross-traffic for longer than either stopping or going at a normal pace. One person says a bigger vehicle’s blind spots, including its roof pillars, can hide a walker or cyclist, so the people driving them need extra care.

Where you are matters

One person warns that a walker used to drivers stopping can be in danger in a place where they do not. The check that the vehicle has stopped works in any place.

Who this page is not for

If you want to know who would be at fault in a collision, this page does not answer that, and it does not state the US rules on who must yield, which could not be checked. If you ride a bicycle or a motorcycle, your position differs from a walker’s or a car driver’s, and this page does not cover it beyond the junction lines above. If you cannot see or hear traffic well, or cannot cross quickly, the notes on eye contact and wheels assume you can see the vehicle, and this page does not cover how to cross without it. If you walk with children, one person says teaching them to treat vehicles as possible threats is hard but works; this page does not cover how. It also does not cover quiet electric vehicles, or fog and heavy rain beyond the note on being seen.