Who has the right of way?

The Sunday Times today (11th September 2005 edition) has an article which caught my eye, titled "Where rules end and common sense begin". Firstly i would applaud Mr. Ben Nadarajan in presenting both sides of the argument. However the sentence which was highlighted , and i quote , "Despite all the grouses about irresponsible pedestrians, i still feel that a greater duty of care remains in the hands of those wielding the bigger guns. The driver of a car should take extra care with pedestrian simply because his car can cause the greater damage" is what i would argue upon.

Everyday if you drive down Orchard Road, how many people do you see jaywalking or crossing recklessly, thinking the driver would slow down and not hit you. a $25 dollar fine does not stop you from jaywalking. repeated jaywalking offenders should be punished more severely. Do jaywalkers go through walking procedures aka walking code? No they don't. Do drivers attend Driving Schools & Highway Code etc? Yes they do, and they spend almost S$ 2000 on getting that little card which deemed them certified drivers, armed with enough knowledge deemed by officials regulated by a board which is in turn regulated by the gahmen. Yes no?

So i totally think jaywalkers should have enough common sense to look left & right. Our young children in schools these days are taught traffic rules, and how to cross safely. Despite being at a red light, they're told to look left & right. Prior to crossing. As well as to never walk behind a vehicle, especially a reversing one. Our cars passed the national smog test, but i am sure they're not so silent that you can't hear them reversing. So armed with a certain common sense, i would most definitely jump out of the way.

So my question in doubt regards to the woman crossing a one way street, a car knocked her down while reversing and she's in coma. The court decided the driver and woman who's been knocked down to share equal responsibility, as reported by The Straits Times.

So the question everyone has is who has the right of way? Or who should be more responsible? Jaywalkers should never ever cross Orchard Road ever. There are underpasses in Lucky Plaza to Ngee Ann City, Tang Plaza to Wisma Atria, a crossing from Ngee Ann city to Paragon, a crossing from Cineleisure to Heeren, etc etc. So to the nice policemen issuing tickets to the jaywalkers, please tell them to go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect S$ 200.

And yes i drive. I have a driver's license. And i patronize Orchard Road almost everyday, but i use the crossing.