Crosswalk laws and stings

[Matie]

For those of you who haven't read the crosswalk regulations they
basically say that cars have to stop if a pedestrian is in a crosswalk
on the same side of the road as the car. So... you only have to stop
if there is a pedestrian directly in front of you and you would
otherwise hit them! The rules I was taught when I learned to drive
(in Oregon) were that you had to stop and yield right of way if there
was a pedestrian in or approaching a crosswalk without a traffic
signal (so if someone was waiting you legally had to let them
cross).
A few years ago my hometown started having periodic "crosswalk
stings," where a volunteer in an orange safety vest would attempt to
cross at a crosswalk, while a cop car waited in plain sight to ticket
anyone who didn't stop. The purpose of these was chiefly to raise
awareness, as the dates and locations of the stings would be published
in the newspaper several days in advance.
Here's a link a newspaper article about the stings:
http://archive.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0927/local/stories/08local.htm