When approaching a pedestrian crossing, are you obliged to observe the surrounding area?

In the video you are driving along a street in a housing estate in a town and approaching a pedestrian crossing marked with sign D-6, above which there is sign D-1 "priority road", with a traffic island in the middle; no pedestrians can be seen on the pavements. When approaching the crossing, you must watch the area around it. The answer is: yes.

The Road Traffic Act requires a driver approaching a pedestrian crossing to exercise particular caution, to reduce speed so as not to endanger a pedestrian who is on the crossing or stepping onto it, and to give way to a pedestrian on the crossing or stepping onto it. According to the Act, particular caution means paying more attention and adapting your behaviour to changing conditions so that you can react quickly enough - and you can react to a pedestrian only if you see them early. So you watch not only the stripes, but the area around them: the pavements on both sides, the traffic island, parked cars and bushes from behind which someone may come out. A pedestrian stepping onto the crossing has right of way from the moment they step onto it, so noticing them only when they are already on the roadway is too late.

Legal basis: Art. 26 para. 1 and Art. 2 point 22 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym); § 47 para. 4 of the Regulation on road signs and signals