There is denying the fact that we are a global society. Travelling to different states or areas of the globe is no longer a challenging endeavor, allowing people to live wherever they want, not just in the same community where they were born. Unfortunately, this creates one major problem: unfamiliarity with the laws in our new communities.
As many of our Salisbury readers are well aware, each state in our country is allowed to draft its own laws. From speed limits to where people can build homes, these laws define what is and is not allowed. Even laws that one might think would be universal, such as those concerning the operation of a motor vehicle, aren’t always the same from state to state, though.
Take for example laws concerning pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks. In many states, drivers are required to yield right of way to pedestrians when they either enter a marked crosswalk or are crossing the street in an unmarked area. This isn’t the case, however, here in Maryland. Our right of way laws only enforce right of way for pedestrians when they are in a crosswalk. If the pedestrian is outside of a crosswalk, they must yield to vehicles.
This slight quirk in our state’s laws could catch out-of-towners off guard and at risk of a serious or even fatal accident. Even native Marylanders might not know about this right of way rule, putting themselves at risk of injury or death as well. Hopefully, seeing it here today will remind our Salisbury readers about the dangers around them and seeing ways of avoiding an accident that could be very serious indeed.
Source: The National Conference of State Legislatures, “Pedestrian Crossing: 50 State Summary,” April 20, 2015
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