Two solid white lines painted across a traffic lane show the boundaries of a crosswalk. As a driver, you should know that:
- Motor vehicles have the right-of-way over pedestrians in crosswalks.
- When pedestrians are in crosswalks, they should be given the right-of-way. ✓
- No one has the right-of-way in a crosswalk.
- Pedestrians are responsible to stay out of the way of all traffic.
Answer: B. When pedestrians are in crosswalks, they should be given the right-of-way.
When pedestrians are in crosswalks, drivers must yield and give them the right-of-way.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's pavement markings section says marked crosswalks are shown with solid white lines and sometimes filled with white diagonal or perpendicular lines, and that they show where pedestrians should cross. The same passage adds that motorists must always yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in a crosswalk. So the painted lines tell you where people cross, and your job as a driver is to let them go first while they are in it.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Motor vehicles have the right-of-way over pedestrians in crosswalks. — This reverses the rule: the handbook says motorists must always yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, not that vehicles go first.
- C. No one has the right-of-way in a crosswalk. — The handbook assigns the right-of-way to pedestrians who are in a crosswalk, so it is not a free-for-all with no rule.
- D. Pedestrians are responsible to stay out of the way of all traffic. — The handbook does not put the burden on pedestrians inside a crosswalk; it tells drivers to yield to them there.
Remember it
Think of white crosswalk lines as a promise you make: if a person is between them, you wait.