I've been driving for 42 years. And have been practicing personal injury law for 33 years.

But I’m continually learning new things about the rules of the road. (Or maybe refamiliarizing myself with things I’ve forgotten.)

Crosswalks can be marked (RCW 46.04.290) or unmarked (RCW 46.04.160).

That’s right. There are unmarked crosswalks at every intersection. And those unmarked crosswalks provide protection to pedestrians and impose special obligations on drivers.

Here’s the instruction the judge reads to jurors in cases where a car has hit a pedestrian:

"A crosswalk exists at every intersection of roadways, regardless of whether the roadway is marked with crosswalk lines. An intersection is defined as the area where roadways meet and vehicles traveling upon the different roadways may collide. The crosswalk extends across the roadway at the same angle as the roadways meet. The crosswalk is 10 feet wide. It begins at the edge of the intersection and extends 10 feet back from the intersection."

There are no exceptions to the definition of crosswalk.

The driver of a vehicle approaching a crosswalk has a duty of continuous observation to watch for pedestrians in the crosswalk—whether it’s marked or unmarked.

This is how the jury instruction reads:

"The driver of an approaching vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the roadway on which the vehicle is traveling."

Pedestrians have a strong right of way when they’re in either a marked or an unmarked crosswalk. Here’s what the judge will instruct the jury:

"A pedestrian within a crosswalk has the right to assume that all drivers of approaching vehicles will yield the right of way to the pedestrian."

All of this has a huge impact on cases where a pedestrian is hit by a car. There are still defenses that drivers can raise. But this broad definition of “crosswalk” completely shifts the upper hand to the pedestrian in disputed liability cases