Stop for Pedestrians or be Ticketed in Georgia

If you are a driver living in the state of Georgia then there are a number of traffic laws that you need to be aware of. Knowledge of these laws will ensure that you do not spend unnecessary money paying for traffic tickets, and it will also help to ensure that you keep points off your license. The more traffic tickets you get, the greater the number of points added to your license. The more points you have on your license, the more expensive your insurance payments will be, and the greater the likelihood of having your license suspended.

One such law that you need to pay particular attention to when driving around the streets of Georgia is the law commonly known as the crosswalk law; that is, Code Section 40-6-91. As a driver in the state of Georgia, failure to pay due attention to pedestrians using the crosswalk could prove to be very expensive for you if you are observed doing so by law enforcement officials. This is so because in Georgia, traffic laws dictate that motorists must come to a complete stop and remain fully stopped while pedestrians are using the crosswalk. While this rule is, for the most part, largely ignored by quite a number of drivers, those who do get caught oftentimes find themselves saddled with hefty traffic tickets, and may even have points added to their licenses.

So what exactly are the tenets of the crosswalk law in Georgia? Well, the first thing that you need to keep in mind is that, under Georgia state law, pedestrians almost always have the right-of-way. As a driver you are expected to stop for pedestrians using the crosswalk as long as they are on your side of the road, or in the lane adjacent to your side of the road. By the way, according to the Georgia DMV, the phrase ‘your side of the road’ makes reference to “all lanes of traffic going in one direction.” As such, you are expected to stop, even if the pedestrian is not in your lane.

Other pedestrian laws as it relates to the use of the crosswalk include stopping on green if a pedestrian is in the crosswalk, stopping behind the crosswalk to ensure that you do not block it, and ensuring that you do not turn behind or in front of pedestrians using the crosswalk. Failure to observe these laws will result in you receiving a traffic ticket, which may require you to pay a fine that may be as much as hundreds of dollars.

Many persons often try to contest traffic tickets that they receive for crosswalk violations. However, the statistics related to the number of successful contests, without the assistance of an experienced lawyer, is very low in the state of Georgia. Generally, if you are ticketed you are made to pay. So do yourself a favor and observe the crosswalk law. It will save you some money and may even save a life.