New law targets traffic safety

Drivers must stop if pedestrians raise their hand at a crosswalk

Starting next week, vehicles must stop when pedestrians at a crosswalk raise their hand under a new law that takes effect Oct. 1. The law is part of a new set of rules seeking to further protect pedestrians and cyclists under a yearslong effort to address traffic safety in the state.

Starting next week, vehicles must stop when pedestrians at a crosswalk raise their hand under a new law that takes effect Oct. 1.

The new law is part of a new set of rules seeking to further protect pedestrians and cyclists under a yearslong effort to address traffic safety in the state.

The so-called “pedestrian rules” grant greater protections to pedestrians intending to cross at crosswalks, and from “dooring,” which refers to when a driver or passenger opens their door into oncoming moving traffic like cyclists, pedestrians or other vehicles.

Both rules are part of an omnibus traffic safety bill signed by Gov. Ned Lamont in June and will take effect on Oct. 1. The bill also allows cities and towns to establish their own speed limits and pedestrian safety zones without state approval, provided they meet certain criteria.

What are the new pedestrian rules?

Under the new rules, drivers must yield at crosswalks to pedestrians who signal their intent to cross by raising their hand toward oncoming traffic, or by moving any part of their body (including a wheelchair, walking stick or other extension) into the crosswalk’s entrance.

Pedestrians previously had to enter the crosswalk or step off the curb in order to be legally granted the right of way.

Those limited conditions were particularly problematic for people with disabilities or walking with young children,

according to Amy Watkins, director of Watch for Me CT. The organization is an educational campaign supported by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and focused on pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Drivers who fail to yield to a pedestrian under these circumstances will be subject to a $500 fine, as under current law.

“It’s a very subtle change, but it will make a difference for people,” Watkins said.

“Often, pedestrians think a driver sees them when they actually don’t,” Kafi Rouse, director of communications for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, wrote in an email statement provided to the Courant. “The new pedestrian safety laws will give the driver and the person ready to cross the opportunity to confirm the intent to cross,” Rouse wrote.

The law also prohibits drivers or passengers from opening their doors into moving traffic, an act known as dooring and from leaving their doors open “longer than necessary to load or unload passengers” when close to moving traffic. Violations will count as an infraction.

Connecticut was one of just nine states that didn’t have a dooring law as of 2018, according to the League of American Bicyclists.