In Durango, the pedestrian would appear to be the king or queen of the asphalt when it comes to encounters with vehicles – well, most of the time.

But anecdotal accounts and Letters to the Editor of The Durango Herald give opposing points of view, lay mutual blame and sometimes express outright hostility to those with differing opinions.

Pedestrians complain that motorists drive too fast or crowd them too much. Drivers point out that pedestrians jaywalk, stray out of the crosswalk or operate with tunnel vision, plowing straight ahead, oblivious to surroundings.

And whereas crosswalks mean something in Durango, where generally a car will stop for a pedestrian, folks visiting from larger cities or just moving here might not catch on right away.

Yes, pedestrians in a crosswalk have the law on their side, but still, the best policy is to keep your head on a swivel.

An Oct. 10, 2012, incident in downtown Durango pitted the word of a pedestrian against that of a motorist. The pedestrian, a 65-year-old man visiting from northern California, was crossing Main Avenue at Eighth Street, westbound, when a driver traveling in the same direction turned south on Main and collided with him, knocking him to the pavement.

The visitor told police he had the walk signal. The driver said she didn’t see him because the sun was in her eyes – it was 4:42 p.m. – and that he was in the shadow of a building.

The visitor declined medical attention, but police cited the driver for violation of the state’s Model Traffic Code Section 802 – failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

On the other hand, an accident that resulted in more than bumps and bruises for a pedestrian didn’t bring a citation for the motorist.

Durango resident Cecil Roth recalls the incident vividly although it occurred almost three years ago – Feb. 1, 2011, at 7:56 a.m.

“I was walking to McDonald’s to have coffee with an old buddy when this truck came out of nowhere,” Roth, 82, said. “I was flipped about 8 feet in the air.”

The accident left Roth with multiple injuries to head, heels, pelvis and arms. He spent four days in Animas Surgical Hospital, followed by 20 days in rehabilitation at Four Corners Health Care Center.

The police report said he was crossing west College Drive, southbound, in the 200 block, but was not in a crosswalk.

The pickup driver, who had turned east on College Drive from Camino del Rio, said he didn’t see Roth because he was temporarily blinded by the sun.

No citation was issued.

On occasion, both driver and pedestrian draw a citation, as occurred Aug. 17, 2013, at Ninth Street and Narrow Gauge. The driver of a pickup who struck a pedestrian while turning left onto Ninth Street from Narrow Gauge was cited for careless driving and the pedestrian for jaywalking.

Statistics suggest that, all things being equal, pedestrians get the benefit of the doubt. In 2012, Durango police cited 17 drivers and zero pedestrians for being at fault in chance encounters. So far this year, 18 drivers and a single pedestrian have received citations.

“We base our regulations on the state Model Traffic Code,” said police spokesman Lt. Ray Shupe.

The code was adopted in 1952 and has been modified 10 times, the latest change coming in 2010.

Defining right of way

In defining the right of way, pertinent parts of the code say:

“When traffic control systems are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if need be, to yield to a pedestrian the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.”

Section 803 states: “Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at any intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway.”

But pedestrians aren’t always comfortable, even when they have the law on their side, said Amber Blake, the city of Durango’s multimodal coordinator. They’re more at home in some areas than others, she said.

“The Central Business District is very pedestrian-oriented,” Blake said. “There are wide sidewalks, lower traffic volume and lower vehicle speed, all of which make pedestrians feel safe.”

Pedestrians will even walk against a red or jaywalk, she said.

“But on Camino del Rio there’s a different feeling,” Blake said. “People don’t feel so comfortable walking close to cars that are traveling 35 to 40 miles per hour, where there are no sidewalks and cars are entering or leaving parking lots.”

Nevertheless, said Scott Bricker, executive director of America Walks, cities are becoming more pedestrian-friendly. People are giving up automobiles or are moving to small, walkable cities, he said.

He was recently at a conference where he heard about the city of Jewell, Mo., which, in rebuilding after a tornado, is incorporating walkability into its schematics, Bricker said.

America Walks promotes walkable communities through advocacy, education and networking.

Development of crosswalks

Larger cities may have mid-block crosswalks to keep foot traffic out of areas where there’s multi-lane vehicle movement, Bricker said.

Duane Smith, history professor at Fort Lewis College, has seen crosswalks come into their own. When he arrived in Durango in 1964, bold, stripe-delineated street-corner markings were still to come.

“I think people tended to look around more then before they crossed a street,” Smith said. “They didn’t step out there and tempt fate. I think drivers have become more aggressive, too.”

People – drivers and pedestrians – don’t adjust immediately to change, Smith said, citing the current crosswalk pattern at Main Avenue and College Drive where, when allowed to walk, pedestrians can cross in any direction, even diagonally.

The Main/College pattern is known as a pedestrian scramble, a diagonal crossing, a scramble intersection or a Barnes Dance after Henry Barnes, a traffic engineer who introduced the concept to Denver in the 1940s and later to Baltimore and New York City.

Bricker from America Walks said a Barnes Dance configuration works well under certain conditions.

“The trick is allowing enough time for pedestrians to cross,” he said.

daler@durangoherald.com