Textured crosswalks, they look cool - are they safer?
I thought these would be safer, but according to the city’s DOT, textured sidewalks aren’t necessarily safer. But I still like ‘em because they look cool.
(Wallingford and 45th DuraTherm crosswalk)
2 comments
SDOT doesn’t believe crosswalks are safer because they believe they embolden pedestrians. They base this on data that show pedestrians are more often killed or injured in marked crosswalks.
Since cities around the globe tend only to mark crosswalks in areas that are either dangerous or present more opportunity because of hiugh use for pedestrian/vehciel conflicts, what exactly did they think the data would show?
Field officers at SPD often say there should be more crosswalks because it provides a visual notice for drivers to watch for pedestrians.
[...] different idea of which intersections are worthy of upgrading vs. the Seattle Police Department. Dave has a nice comment about this, and I’ll post a letter from SDOT explaining why they couldn’t add a lighted crosswalk [...]
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