Crosswalk Enforcement
December 21, 2011 in Walking
PORTLAND – The City of Portland regularly conducts crosswalk enforcement in problem areas to remind vehicle drivers, including bicyclists, they need to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.
The enforcement action involves a decoy pedestrian who attempts to cross the street. A police spotter notifies a police officer when a vehicle driver doesn’t yield and the officer then pulls over the driver and issues a warning or citation.
Tulsa has many places where this kind of enforcement action, if done regularly, could really change driver behavior. Good candidates include areas with large number of pedestrians like the crosswalks near the angled parking on Cherry Street and Brookside.
But it would also be smart to run enforcement operations in locations where pedestrians aren’t the norm, like 71st and Memorial or 15th and Louisville, because these locations can be some of the most dangerous for pedestrians because drivers are not expecting people to be walking in those areas. Drivers need to learn to be aware and yield to pedestrians at all crosswalks.
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Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
Instead of enforcement, which WON’T happen, maybe design should be used to control motorist behavior? Googling “Confusion as Traffic Control Device,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/23/AR2007122302487_pf.html
Bike Soup is not promoting balance. We need proper balance in this community for bicyclist, walkers and vehicles. We need to educate drivers about stop bars and we need the city to paint the stop bars on the ground.
According to the American Automobile Association, AAA, approximately 43,000 Americans die every year, year-in, year-out, because of motor vehicle collisions. http://www.michiganautolaw.com/auto-lawyers-blog/2008/03/12/aaa-study-%E2%80%93-car-accident-fatalities-staggering/
Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, OHSO, counts 2 Oklahomans died yesterday, another two will die today, and another two more tomorrow. By every year’s end, approximately 700-750 will die, year-in, year-out. http://ok.gov/ohso/Data/Crash_Data_and_Statistics/index.html
No matter how much law enforcement we throw at the situation, no matter how much traffic engineers design roadways to be “safer,” those statistics have remained fairly constant. And, those numbers don’t count the indirect motor vehicle kills due to a long list of illnesses, obesity, and hypertension, attributed to sitting in a cage of glass, metal, and rubber all day. http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/8-most-artery-clogging-cities-america-172200587.html
Bob, you are ABSOLUTELY right. We NEED proper balance in this community for bicyclists, walkers, and motor vehicles. We NEED more drunken, outta-control cyclists to start running red lights, crashing into motor vehicles, and killing everyone inside. MY bad. What was I thinking?
On March 5, 2008, AAA released a study revealing that car accidents kill 43,000 people every year. It is the equivalent of two jumbo jets crashing every week, killing everyone aboard. http://www.michiganautolaw.com/auto-lawyers-blog/2008/03/12/aaa-study-%E2%80%93-car-accident-fatalities-staggering/
Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, OHSO, counts 2 Oklahomans die every day, day-in, day-out. http://ok.gov/ohso/Data/Crash_Data_and_Statistics/Crash_Facts_2010.html
Regardless of law enforcement or “safer” roadway designs, those statistics are fairly constant. Also, they don’t count the indirect deaths caused by sitting in cages of glass, metal, and rubber all day. http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/8-most-artery-clogging-cities-america-172200587.html
Bob, you are ABSOLUTELY right. We need proper balance in this community for bicyclists, walkers, and motor vehicles. More drunken, outta-control cyclists NEED to run red lights, crash into motor vehicles, and kill everyone inside. MY bad. What was I thinking?
On March 5, 2008, AAA released a study revealing that car accidents kill 43,000 people every year. It is the equivalent of two jumbo jets crashing every week, killing everyone aboard. http://www.michiganautolaw.com/auto-lawyers-blog/2008/03/12/aaa-study-%E2%80%93-car-accident-fatalities-staggering/
Last year, 668 Oklahomans lost their lives because of motor vehicles. More law enforcement and “safer” roadway designs make no difference. The year before, 2009, 737 died. http://ok.gov/ohso/documents/8_2010FB_QuickFacts.pdf
Bob, you are ABSOLUTE right. We need proper balance in the community for bicyclists, walkers, and motor vehicles. More drunken, outta-control cyclists should run red lights, crash into motor vehicles, and kill everyone inside.