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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “If you drive, do so as if the pedestrians always had the right of way.” What does “right of way” mean? My comments: In other words, if you are driving a vehicle in the fast lane and all of a sudden a pedestrian appears in front of you, hit the brakes and stop – do not, that is, run him or her over, even if the pedestrian has no right to be there legally. “Right of way” is a traffic term that refers to a driver’s entitlement to the road at a particular time or place amid heavy traffic. For a simple example, if you are trying to steer your car from a side way into the main road, you should allow vehicles already travelling in that route to go ahead first. That’s because, according to traffic rules, vehicles in the main road has the right of way in preference to the ones joining in from the side road. In this circumstance, if your car collides with a vehicle already in the lane, the traffic officer will say, don’t be surprised, it’s your fault. That’s just basically what “right of way” means. If you study the rule book governing traffic, there are innumerous situations where some vehicles have the right of way over others. In our example, the good advice is for drivers to beware of pedestrians all the time, as if they always had the right of way – even if they don’t, legally. That is, someone might be crossing the road during a red light, you still have to make allowances for him or her even if you have the green light. In other words, you must slow down and let them cross the road first. You can’t just hit them even if legally you have a right to travel at a legal speed in a green light. | 
