Sharing the road
Your light is green. A pedestrian using a white cane starts across the street in front of you at an unmarked crosswalk. What must you do?
- Yield to the pedestrian, even though the signal is in your favor. Correct answer
- Continue, because the green light gives you the right-of-way.
- Yield only if the crosswalk is marked with painted lines.
Why
New York has a special right-of-way rule for blind pedestrians. Someone crossing with a guide dog or with a white or metal cane gets the right-of-way at any crosswalk, marked or unmarked, and you must yield even when the traffic signal or the normal right-of-way rules favor you. That is exactly why the green light in the second option does not settle it. The third option fails because the rule covers unmarked crosswalks too, and the manual's general pedestrian tips also tell you to yield at every crosswalk, painted or not. A blind pedestrian may not know you are there, so the duty sits entirely with the driver. When a white cane or a guide dog enters the crosswalk, your green light stops counting.
Where this comes from
New York State Driver's Manual (MV-21), April 2026 version. The correct answer is Yield to the pedestrian, even though the signal is in your favor.
More on sharing the road
- You come up behind a Class B moped. Where on the road is it allowed to operate?
- A snowmobile rider needs to cross a state highway ahead of you. How does New York law require the crossing to be made?
- You are approaching a person riding a horse along the side of the road. Which of these actions is illegal?
- You are about to pass a bicyclist on a two-lane road. What does the manual tell you to do with your speed as you go by?