What Everybody Ought to Know about these Weird NYC Crosswalks

Last Updated on July 28, 2021 by Lawrence Berezin

Have you ever encountered crosswalks like these?

A wonderful member of the driving community posted an image of one of the weirdest crosswalks I’ve ever seen. It had a bunch of parallel lines extending from one pedestrian ramp to another. But, as the lines neared one of the pedestrian ramps, they stopped. Leaving enough room for a driver to be hoodwinked into believing it was a legal parking space.

There are a number of crosswalk designs that challenge a driver’s skill to dodge a ticket for stopping in an NYC crosswalk.

This is one of many weird crosswalks

Here it is

Some challenges:

• The white lines abruptly stop before reaching the pedestrian ramp. There’s a space that large enough to fit a portion of your car (red arrow). And, still not park in front of the pedestrian ramp ( the yellow star indicates pedestrian ramp).
• If your front bumper extends into the red zone, will you get a ticket for parking in a crosswalk?
• Would you risk a crosswalk parking ticket and park in the red zone?

In my humble opinion, I would never, ever park any tiny portion of my chariot in the red zone. With my luck, I would get two parking tickets:

• Crosswalk
• Pedestrian Ramp

$115 plus $165…Ca-ching, Ca-ching.

Can you tell the difference between these crosswalks?

A great white paper about high visibility crosswalks

“An Overview and Recommendations of High-Visibility Crosswalk Marking Styles”

Executive Summary (Conclusion)

We conclude that, because high-visibility markings are more easily detected by motorists and have been shown to lead to a reduction in pedestrian-vehicle collisions when compared to transverse line crosswalks, transportation agencies should install high-visibility markings at uncontrolled crossing locations when a determination is made to provide marked crosswalks. Installing the most visible crosswalk marking styles is important to increase the likelihood that approaching motorists will see marked crosswalks in time to become aware of the possibility of pedestrians crossing the street ahead. At crossing locations controlled by traffic signals or stop signs, the key recommendation is to mark all legs of the intersection with a crosswalk in order to show to pedestrians and motorists the preferred locations for pedestrians to cross. More broadly, policymakers in the United States need to come to a consensus on right-of-way laws for crosswalks. If all states are consistent in how they enforce crossing areas, pedestrian and motorist compliance with the rules of the road should also be more consistent and improve.

Commentary

A cup full of knowledge, two quarts of vigilance, and a pinch of luck are the recipe for avoiding and beating NYC parking tickets (especially of the crosswalks variety)

Are you making these common mistakes parking at an unmarked crosswalk? If so, here’s how to avoid ’em.

Park safely.

Larry