“Pedestrian Intent”

I did not get a ticket and I was not spoken to by police. I just have a question.

I am about to turn right on a green light. The walk signal is on. There is a pedestrian on the sidewalk slowly approaching the intersection to my right - but is a few feet away. I come to a complete stop to wait for them. As they get closer - still quite a few steps from the curb - they slow almost to a stop and it seems to me they are not going to cross but are going to follow the sidewalk and go right.

They are still away from the curb. I very slowly make my right turn. Looking in my rear view - I see that pedestrian cross and feel terrible. I do not honestly believe I endangered the pedestrian or cut them off and they did not appear distressed.

I'm just suddenly very confused. I'm a cautious driver and I'm wondering - where is the line between waiting for a pedestrian who is approaching the intersection and needlessly impeding traffic by waiting? How close do they need to be to be considered "approaching?"

The driver is responsible at all times for that pedestrian as long as they are crossing in a legal manner. So you kind of just have to do your best to gauge the situation and make sure you can make the right safely.

In your particular situation, I wouldn't feel too bad. It sounds like the pedestrian knew exactly what they were doing and they wanted to cross behind you, rather than in front.