The Tale of Two Deaths at Crosswalks
                      The Tale of Two Deaths at 
Crosswalks
At Velocipede Law North Carolina, we’ve seen our share of collisions between bicyclists 
and motorists at sidewalk intersections. Two recent cases, one which we tried and lost 
and the other, which settled favorably to our client, highlight the challenges, expressly 
in North Carolina and other pure contributory negligence states (Alabama, Virginia and 
Maryland).
                                          The Loss
In the first case, the bicyclist and a friend were riding on the sidewalk withal a rented 
road. They were riding in the opposite direction of traffic. The sidewalk seemed an 
obvious choice, however, considering they were riding much slower (about “the speed 
of a jogger”) than traffic on the rented road and there was no sidewalk on the other side 
of the road.
As the bicyclists neared the intersection with a neighborhood road, the first bicyclist 
slowed and looked left to see if any cars were coming toward them. The bicyclist saw a 
car unescapable from the left. The suburbanite was slowing and had come to 
scrutinizingly a well-constructed stop at the stop sign, so the bicyclist went forward into 
the crosswalk. The bicyclist was fully in the crosswalk when the suburbanite suddenly 
crush forward, hitting the bicyclist and pushing him out into the road.  At the end of the 
trial of this case, the jury found that the suburbanite was not at fault. We appealed the 
decision. A note well-nigh appeals: an appellate magistrate often can’t overturn a jury 
visualization just considering they think it’s wrong. There must be a legal error at trial. 
In this case, we argued that the trial judge was wrong in the way he instructed the jury.
There is a jury instruction that tells jurors that drivers must yield to 
pedestrians in crosswalks surpassing driving over a crosswalk. We argued 
that the instruction should be read and the word “pedestrians” replaced with 
“people.” We never personal that bicyclists are pedestrians but argued that 
any person, once in a crosswalk, whether on foot or on a bicycle, deserved 
the protection of the crosswalk. The trial judge refused to requite the 
instruction and we appealed on that basis. I’ll stave getting into the legal 
weeds and just tell you that the Magistrate of Appeals disagreed with us.
                                                     The Win
In the other case, the bicyclist then was riding on the sidewalk in the opposite direction of 
traffic, which made sense for reasons like the first case. He moreover was riding very 
slowly and was unescapable an intersection with a side street, which moreover had a 
crosswalk, but this time the side street had a traffic light instead of a stop sign. 
When the bicyclist neared the intersection, he had to navigate virtually a pole, so had 
slowed lanugo plane more. The warm-up on the crosswalk had increasingly than 10 
seconds left on it. Traffic to the bicyclist’s left was stopped for the red light. He proceeded 
forward. Once the bicyclist was once in the crosswalk, the first suburbanite in line at the 
light decided to turn right on red and crush right into him. The specimen was heavily 
litigated and settled well-nigh a month surpassing trial, with a favorable settlement to our 
client. 
Why the variegated results? What would have happened had we had to try the 
second case? We think we would have won, for several reasons. But there is no 
question that sidewalk intersection cases have their challenges. Hopefully 
understanding them will help you stay safe, should you choose, or need to, use the 
sidewalk for velocipede travel.
                                Are bicyclists unliable to use the sidewalk?
Most states leave sidewalk riding prohibitions up to local entities. Charlotte, North 
Carolina, like many places, bans sidewalk riding in a few select areas, most of which 
are congested urban sidewalks. In both of our cases, sidewalk riding was legal.
Many people, including police, are often tumbled well-nigh whether bicycling is 
unliable on sidewalks. The ravages usually stems from the fact that most states 
include bicycles in their definitions of “vehicle.” A bicyclist, in North Carolina and 
most other states, has all the rights and duties of a motor vehicle driver, “except 
those which by their nature can have no application.” (N.C. Gen. Stat. §20-4.01(49)) 
But, here, at least, there is a separate definition for “motor vehicle.” Motor vehicles 
may not be driven on a sidewalk. (N.C. Gen. Stat. §20-160(b): “No person shall 
momentum any motor vehicle upon a sidewalk or sidewalk zone except upon a 
permanent or temporary driveway.”) There is no similar prohibition for bicycles. [1] 
If you wonder whether sidewalk riding is unliable where you live, the weightier 
place to start is www.municode.com.