If you check other sources the driver said he was making a right turn and didn’t even see the walker crossing the street. Ped had right away.. Drivers need to look too!

Rusty, go back too 1975 Russia, and shut up about Obama. This story has nothing to do with him. You are lucky you live in this country. I know alot of countries that would have gotten rid of you alongtime ago.

I thought technically that pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way???

In the State of MN if you are a pedestrian in the cross walk (lighted or painted) the PEDESTRIAN has the right of way. Vehicles MUST stop and MUST be on alert for pedestrians. Failure to notice a pedestrian is a ticket-able offense because it means that the driver is not paying attention. Pedestrians should also be paying attention to drivers, and should cross only at marked areas.

We all need to learn how to SHARE the road. People walked on them long before we had the cars to drive on them.

If anyone really needs to know what the “Pedestrian laws” are for the state of minnesota, please click here:

http://www.minnesotasafetycouncil.org/facts/factsheet.cfm?qs=BD3BE1A6DFA3335E

I have a question: When does any person have the ‘right of way’? You might be surprised, but if you want to LIVE, the answer is NEVER. Had I followed the common definition of the term, I would have been killed 2 or 3 times over by now, by distracted drivers, cops screaming thru red stop signals, or just plain idiots. If you have the mindset that you never truly have the right of way, you will live longer. Ask anyone who has had a close call, they will agree with me.

Could be she had earphones in and was texting? Darwin?

For the love of God everyone in a 5 mile radius of downtown minneapolis please stay home. don’t walk, drive, jump, crawl or bike or kite or……….

Is there something in the water down by the U that makes people(stupid) ignore motor vehicle traffic at their own risk? If you get hit by a car whether or not you’re in a crosswalk it’s your own darn fault. If you’re on a bike or on foot just stay off the street. The sad thing about all the recent bicycle and pedestrian accidents is that the victims could have prevented them by watching for traffic. It’s probably not much consolation for family members to know that the victim had the right of way if they’re dead. I don’t step off the curb before looking both ways like mom taught me 48 years ago.

If you read the story FULLY it states she was IN A CROSSWALK…which means VEHICLES need to look out for pedestrians.

The neglected to teach you manners or reading comprehension. The article did not say she was jaywalking. The state law is that pedestrians have the right of way in the crosswalk. Were you the driver?

Not only with driving downtown Mpls, but everywhere, pedestrians are just walking across crosswalks without looking. Sure, they might have the right of way, but they also need common sense. If the pedestrian is in a driver’s blind spot (coming up from the rear of the car before cornering the front bumper to cross the street) or jogs into the street from further down the block when the driver didn’t see the pedestrian the first time they looked (because they weren’t there), there’s a good chance of a collision. Just because a pedestrian doesn’t have a metal around them doesn’t mean they are safe. How about this woman who died a few days ago, while being on a bike and getting side-swiped by a truck? Where was her common sense? Did she ride too close to the side of the sidewalk? Or was she on the road? Did she glide into the truck? Are bicyclists and pedestrians wearing I-Pods and not hearing what’s going on around them? Being a pedestrian and having the right of way in a crosswalk does not equate to not using common sense. Back to the rules your parents (should have) taught you: Look both ways – several times. Use your common sense & intuition. Use your manners. And NEVER ASSUME anything. This goes for both drivers AND pedestrians, alike.

I agree that pedestrians should look both ways and use common sense, however I was there around the time of the accident and saw where the car was when it hit her and where she was laying. She was almost half way across the street when she got hit so I don’t think this pedestrian should be faulted, the car wasn’t there when she started crossing the street and the light was green for her.

my wife just finished a civil case in which there were cars stopped at 3 of the possible 4 lanes in which a car could drive through the intersection. she walked past the first vehicle and was then hit by a car that failed to slow down or even notice that 3 other vehicles have already stopped. The jury in this case found my wife 90% at fault, she now has permanent knee injuries that makes it unable for her to run, jump, kneel etc. without extensive pain. she used to run 3 or 4 miles 5 days a week. The defense attorneys major argument was that when she stepped out from in front of the other stopped vehicle she was leaving a place of safety. This is proof to me that our legal system doesn’t work because there are way to many stupid people in the world that are able to make decisions that affect other peoples lives. Not getting any money isn’t even what bothers us, the fact that those people think that a pedestrian that was hit by a vehicle in a crosswalk when 3 other vehicles had stopped could be found to be 90% at fault just makes us sick.