A couple of years ago Ann Arbor implemented a law requiring vehicles to stop at crosswalks where a pedestrian was waiting to cross. Some time after that, the city began installing HAWK signals at some of the mid-block crosswalks on some of the high-speed roads in town (speed limits up to 45 MPH). We are still experiencing devastating vehicle/pedestrian collisions at these crosswalks. The most recent was this past Wednesday, when a pedestrian was struck on Plymouth Road, a four-lane road on the north side of town. She had activated the HAWK signal, and began walking when the first lane of traffic had stopped; she was struck when she began crossing the second lane. A friend of mine was among the first on the scene and observed the victim to be convulsing, indicative of a serious brain injury. Sadly, she died yesterday.
Ever since the law changed, there’s been debate about how to get pedestrians across busy streets safely. So what’s the answer? Mods, maybe this belongs in IMHO; I’ll leave it up to you.
My position is that any time pedestrians enter spaces where vehicles may be moving at speed, they are at risk. Cars blow through stop signs and traffic lights with disturbing regularity, meaning crosswalks at controlled intersections still require pedestrians to be vigilant. Pedestrian bridges are expensive, and lazy walkers will eschew stairs and corkscrew ramps in favor of playing Frogger. Take away the mid-block crosswalks altogether, and few will bother detouring to the nearest intersection (as much as 1/3 mile away); you’ll get even more pedestrians playing Frogger.
I think a significant part of the problem is that HAWK signals are relatively new and rare. As they become more ubiquitous and drivers grow accustomed to them, the hazard will decrease, but it will never go away, just as the hazard has not disappeared from crosswalks at controlled road intersections; the need for pedestrian vigilance will never disappear completely.
So if the nearest traffic light/intersection is 1/3 mile away, you’ll willingly walk 2/3 of a mile extra, each time you cross the road, instead of just try to run across the road mid-block when you don’t see any traffic coming?
There is of course the matter of what *you/I] will do, what you think others should do (presumably the same thing), and what other people actually will do. Bottom line? I think most pedestrians aren’t willing to go very far out of their way to reach a crosswalk.
I see this “magic spell” behavior at lighted intersections. Pedestrians don’t look over their shoulder to see if parallel traffic is going to turn right and flatten them, or they don’t make sure cross traffic has actually stopped before they step out. I don’t have data to back this up, but I suspect the majority of pedestrian hits are the result of both parties not paying attention: the vehicle violates right-of-way, but the pedestrian has put himself in a position where the vehicle is able to hit him. Pedestrian hits are far less likely if a pedestrian doesn’t step out in front of a car that’s still moving.
I never thought I’d say this, but lately, my off-the-cuff opinion is: pedestrian-activated traffic signals with cameras and heavy fines for entering the crosswalk when the light is red.
That’s the situation as described in the OP, and it’s not working.
I think this is something that can only be fixed by direct application of large amounts of money–more crosswalks, more cops watching them, more tickets being handed out. I don’t think we need to increase regulations; it’s already against the law to not stop. The fines are already pretty noticeable; they just don’t get handed out often enough.
It’s just not a problem in my state. People here know better than to run across traffic.
We don’t get the sorts of fatalities you are talking about with people, just animals.
Pedestrians are hit by cars here, don’t get me wrong.
A friend was hit by a car while she was standing at a corner waiting for the signal.
But jaywalking-to-the-point-of-fatality isn’t a local phenomenon.
I looked up “hawk signals” on wikipedia, and they seem perfectly fine to me. A driver ignoring them has no excuse.
I know some won’t like this answer but so it is : increase penalties for people (criminals?) who don’t respect such basic traffic regulations. Put on cameras, hand them huge fines, take away their driving license, seize their car, put them being bars…whatever it takes to hammer down the message “you must stop at a red light”.
Harsh repression seems unfortunately the only way to make sure that most drivers will behave.
Of course no one, pedestrian or driver, ever has the right of way in most places. But we are often required to yield it. And I haven’t lived anywhere where a driver is not required to exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway, whether or not the pedestrian is in said roadway illegally.
That said, yielding to someone who wants to cross the street at an unmarked non-intersection location is kind of dumb, if that’s what you were complaining about.
Here in DC, most of the busier roads only have crosswalks at intersections. However, there are still plenty of roads with crosswalks mid-block. I’ve found I pretty much have to throw myself into traffic to get anyone to stop at these locations, which should not be necessary.
There are real concerns around here about pedestrian strikes, especially on a particular 40 MPH four-lane road with shared left turn. While not the only cause, a lot of pedestrians are people living long-term in little independent motels. There’s also a lot of bus traffic and people trying to cross to get to or from a bus stop. My favorite move of pedestrians in one particular section is them wanting to get across the street into where there’s a supermarket and some other stores. Now, you basically have to go to the intersection in order to get into the lot even as a pedestrian. There is a crosswalk and pedestrian signal at the intersection. What people decide to do instead is try and cross the street wherever they happen to be instead of simply walking down to the intersection where they have to be anyway and use the light.
Better signals and more enforcement can help, but when people are willing to do stupid and dangerous things there’s not much that can be done. Not only pedestrians, but it reminds me of all the times I came close to hitting some college idiot (I say this because this was in a college town a few hundred yards from the college) on a bicycle at night wearing dark clothes with no lights or reflectors.
Bridges or underground walkways.
One of Murphyms Law on Combat, bullets have the right of way, is the same with traffic. Watch out for fast moving metal objects.