Priority, not right of way. There's a big difference.
Everyone has right of way to on the public highway at all times. In England and Wales the public has right of way on byways, bridleways and footpaths too (although there are restrictions on what type of vehicle is allowed, if any). In Scotland the public has right of way everywhere by non-motorised means.
Your right of way never trumps someone else's right of way, nor does it trump someone else's right to live.
Priority is a completely different concept. When you give way, you are not losing your right of way. You are simply waiting for your turn. Priority is a simple rule to make sure everyone can exercise their right of way fairly and safely.
I really wish people would think about what they are saying. As a walker in England/Wales, you don't take right of way for granted.
"Right of way" is the term for priority in the US, which is slightly different than "right of way" in a land use/ permissive/ access meaning that's roughly equivalent to a public servitude.
Both of which are separate from the obligation to attempt to avoid collisions/ accidents regardless of who has the legal right to go first.
Giving pedestrians "priority" by default sounds good in theory, but is less safe due to how it changes pedestrian behavior and encourages people to cross in unsafe places vs walking to an intersection or location with sufficient visibility/ line of sight.
Which isn't to say that it should be illegal to cross at unsafe places, but that the pedestrian should assume drivers can't see them and cross as-if they don't have priority, whether they do or not.
We were talking about the UK. Lot's of people say right of way in the UK too, but it's wrong.
The key thing is priority is something to be given, not taken. Nobody should be taking priority in any situation even when they know it should be theirs. Rather, you give priority when necessary and proceed when it has been given to you. This simple shift in mindset would improve a lot of road behaviour.
No this is a bad way to think of it (regardless of its the legal reasoning in the UK), and is what leads to unpredictable driving behavior, which leads to accidents.
You want the rules to be a deterministic as possible, from all perspectives.
The idea that it's something to be given away is what causes drivers to "wave in" people out of turn, or have standoffs at stop signs because they won't go when it's their turn.
Having "priority" should not be conflated with having license to delegate that priority to others.
Which isn't to say you shouldn't do whatever is necessary to avoid accidents. But decisive and deterministic behaivior is what removes the ambiguity that often leads to those situations in the first place.
Thanks for the correction! I think I meant priority then - previously when turning into a side street, motor vehicles had priority over pedestrians waiting to cross, but now pedestrians waiting to cross have priority over motor vehicles turning in - is that right?
Everyone has right of way to on the public highway at all times. In England and Wales the public has right of way on byways, bridleways and footpaths too (although there are restrictions on what type of vehicle is allowed, if any). In Scotland the public has right of way everywhere by non-motorised means.
Your right of way never trumps someone else's right of way, nor does it trump someone else's right to live.
Priority is a completely different concept. When you give way, you are not losing your right of way. You are simply waiting for your turn. Priority is a simple rule to make sure everyone can exercise their right of way fairly and safely.
I really wish people would think about what they are saying. As a walker in England/Wales, you don't take right of way for granted.