Is this jaywalking?
Near my office there is a tram stop located in the middle of the road. You can access it from the street crossing at the intersection, or from the other end of the platform, further up the road.
At the end of the platform furthest from the intersection (shown in the pictures), there is affordance for crossing the street to or from the platform – it looks to have been purposely built to enable people to access the platform. However, there is no pedestrian crossing (zebra stripes on the road) to allow pedestrians to safely cross the lane of traffic between the footpath and the platform. As it stands, cars or bikes have right of way over pedestrians.
Elsewhere in the city, similar styles of platforms have zebra-striped pedestrian crossings, giving pedestrians the right of way. People are often rushing to catch the tram, some even dash across lanes of traffic to avoid missing it – so it seems to make sense to give pedestrians the right of way.
But who has right of way at this crossing? Furthermore, is it even legal for pedestrians to cross the street here, given there is an intersection with crossing lights located only about 20 metres away? Is this institutionally-encouraged jaywalking?
There is a danger that this inconsistent implementation could lead to some confusion, and maybe some nasty accidents.
What do you think?
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Along the same lines of reasonning, what about the parking spots located in the middle of the street? Is it the same issue somehow?
It’s not jaywalking if it’s more than 20 metres from a crossing.
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/SafetyAndRules/RoadRules/Pedestrians.htm
I suppose my question is, is that considered a pedestrian crossing? There are no markings on the road to indicate it is… however reading the link you posted, maybe this one answers my question: “fail to cross to the nearest edge of the road after getting off a tram”.