Depends upon the jurisdiction, as to whether or not pedestrians always have the right of way. Urban and leftist areas (but I repeat myself) are almost always in the “always” column due to innate hostility to motor vehicles, in my opinion. Elsewhere, motor vehicle drivers aren’t presumed to be able to bring their vehicles to an immediate stop whenever some doofus decides to step into the roadway, and are not charged if striking a pedestrian is unavoidable.
Wanna hear a horrible confession?
I have, on occasion, slapped it into neutral and stomped the gas, just to see them scatter.