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Crosswalks and cyclists

As a general rule, pedestrians, wheelchairs and people pushing bicycles have priority when crossing crosswalks. This statement is based on § 26 of the German Road Traffic Act. This applies to all vehicles on the road, with the exception of trams. The person crossing must exercise particular caution here. Recently, the Higher Regional Court of Celle had to deal with a case in which a young cyclist drove off the cycle path onto the road without prior notice, resulting in a collision between a car and a cyclist. Among other things, the court took into account § 10 StVO. Anyone wishing to ride onto the road from a cycle path must behave in such a way as to avoid endangering other road users. For example, by indicating this with a hand signal. The same applies to someone who wants to ride from the cycle path onto a crosswalk. The fact that the cyclist entered a crosswalk did not change the liability and cause of the accident. Cyclists cannot invoke the above-mentioned protection under § 26 StVO. In the case before the Higher Regional Court, however, the victim of the accident was a child. This means that Section 3 StVO must still be observed. The paragraph states that a motor vehicle driver must behave towards children and other people in need of assistance by adopting special behavior such as increased readiness to brake so that these road users are not endangered. However, this only applies if there are corresponding indications that speak in favor of paying special attention. These were not present in the incident in question. Nevertheless, in the event of a collision between a car and a bicycle, the operating risk of a motor vehicle is realized, so that the car driver or his insurance company had to bear part of the damage.