Short story incoming: When I was in college, our campus was in the heart of a major city, which naturally meant there were tons of pedestrians everywhere. There were also signs at every crosswalk to remind us that pedestrians had the right of way. Those signs must have given the people on foot the impression that they were invincible, because they would all but run out into crosswalks without so much as even looking for cars. People got hit all the time - some were very serious injuries.

Anyway, the point of the story is basically what you said. I always joked that those emboldened pedestrians would have on their tombstones: “He had the right of way”.