“Confusion at 15th and Euclid St, NW Intersection”

15th and Euclid St, NW via Google

“Dear PoPville,

I had a weird moment exiting Meridian Hill Park – I left by the northeast exit, which spills onto the bike lane on 15th St. There is a pedestrian crosswalk at that spot so, after looking south and determining I wasn’t stepping in front of a car, I proceeded to cross.

The light at 15th and Euclid was green, but the oncoming traffic had plenty of time to react to my crossing. Instead, however, the oncoming car sped up and didn’t slow down until I was in the middle of the intersection – clearly they intended to speed by me and make the light.

As soon as they came to a stop the people in the car and the motorcyclist behind them started cussing me out. They were yelling that traffic has the right of way and that I shouldn’t have been crossing until the light was red. I yelled back that it was a pedestrian crosswalk with a yield sign, so traffic had to yield to the pedestrian. The motorcycle even pulled over to the sidewalk and continued to cuss me out as I was walking away.

Picture of the intersection attached – am I correct that pedestrians have the right of way, regardless of the light further up the street? There is no pedestrian walk signal at this crosswalk, but there is one at the true intersection 30 yards north.”