The recent debate on crosswalk safety, driver and pedestrian responsibilities and whether more painted crosswalks would be better, highlights some gaps in the general public’s knowledge of the Motor Vehicle Act, specifically the parts that might affect them most. Those are the parts governing the interactions between vehicles and pedestrians. It is also incentive to discuss what can work to make our streets safer, and it’s made me wonder if we have some things backward.
Learn the rules before you play
First you need to understand what a crosswalk is. The Motor Vehicle Act is pretty clear on this:
"crosswalk" means that portion of a roadway ordinarily included within the prolongation or connection of curb lines and property lines at intersections or any other portion of a roadway clearly indicated for pedestrian crossing by lines or other markings on the surface;
A key bit of information there is that a crosswalk includes a lot more than just those places where the traffic authority has decided an area should be demarcated by paint. I recently stopped for an older gentleman who’d been waiting to cross at an unmarked crosswalk, and the driver behind me, in a military green mud covered Susucky with oversize tires, got so excited at seeing someone actually comply with the law, he repeatedly let me know I was, as I already knew, “Number 1” through the use of a hand signal. Then, once he got past me, he showed all of Oxford Street how to nearly blow out the sewing machine engine in his small dick syndrome "jeep". Fun!
You get my point, not only do most people not know the law, they also flagrantly violate it all the time. I think this stems from a couple things (other than the redneck asshole mental deficiencies of that jerk). We are inconsistent in marking crosswalks. When we don’t paint one, many people could logically assume that it was not marked for a reason, and therefore was not a place that they have to yield to a pedestrian. Indeed, the Motor Vehicle Act states:
“The traffic authority may establish and designate and may maintain, or cause to be maintained, by appropriate devices, marks or lines upon the surface of the highways, crosswalks at intersections where, in his opinion, there is particular danger to pedestrians crossing the highway, and at such other places as he may deem necessary.”
Again, there is a key part to this paragraph. The traffic authority MAY emphasize a crosswalk if they believe it needs emphasizing. But that does not mean all the other ones aren’t still crosswalks.
I wonder if perhaps by painting all these crosswalks we have inadvertently made things worse. We’ve created a bit of a “Chicken Little” situation where thousands of relatively safe, even benign, crossings are emphasized by paint, such that we are desensitized somewhat when we come to an intersection where the crosswalk has not been painted or otherwise demarcated.
What if we removed all the paint from every intersection crosswalk that is obvious and left the special efforts of paint, lighting, and the overhead button activated flashing lights only in those places where there are safety considerations?
Then crosswalks would be indicated by the mere presence of an intersection, not by paint, as they legally are, and those that were special would become even more special.
It’s just a thought. I know that people would be more likely to recognize that crosswalks exist where they don’t respect them now. And the other ones, those dangerous ones, might garner more attention and focus, and probably less trouble.
Look both ways before you cross the street.
If I see one more person walk into a crosswalk without looking in either direction, and with their headphones in their ears (playing bad music, I just know) I may run them over on purpose.
I once did a colossally stupid thing as a pedestrian. I walked to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris above ground, which amounts to crossing about six lanes of high speed French drivers going in circles, learning new matador-like moves on the fly. On getting there, somewhat exhilarated, I was shown the underground tunnel opening by a sweet old lady. Not one of those crazy drivers hit me, and it wasn’t because of the little maple leaf on my lapel. It was because I was looking, and I assumed that even though they were pretty small cars, I’d still lose if they did hit me, so I got out of their way.
Pedestrians have a responsibility to protect themselves. I know it sounds stupid, but you never win, cars are big and heavy, and they are driven by humans, who are, in case you haven’t heard, fallible.
Let’s just all do what my dad taught me when I was learning to drive. Let’s just assume that the person driving the other car, or that car coming up to our crosswalk, is the absolute worst driver on the road, and expect them to do something stupid. Because sooner or later, they will.
Believe it or not, the following paragraph is part of the Motor Vehicle Act. It ought to be redundant, but sadly, it isn’t.
“A pedestrian shall not leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so closely approaching that it is impractical for the driver of the vehicle to stop.” (insert laugh here)
And in case you were wondering about people who walk across a marked crosswalk with a button activated light without pushing the button:
“Where a pedestrian is crossing a roadway at a crosswalk that has a pedestrian-activated beacon, the pedestrian shall not leave a curb or other place of safety unless the pedestrian-activated beacon has been activated.”
You are all criminals. Push the button, or else!
Calming down
In Holland, a planner named Hans Monderman has been advocating the removal of traffic signs, signals and road markings. The town of Drachten adopted his ideas and removed all their traffic signals. Accidents, and their severity decreased. This brings to mind our roundabouts, they really don’t need any signs, they just need to be designed correctly (Armdale is NOT) and be driven by people who know the rules. They have almost no fatal accidents between cars, and when designed correctly, are safe for pedestrians (again, Armdale isn’t).
Drachten implemented other traffic calming measures, even putting a playground in the middle of a street to make drivers slow down. Interestingly, and perhaps counter-intuitively, not just safety increased, but the flow and capacity of the traffic also improved. People were no longer sitting at red lights and rushing to the next one, they were slowly making their way safely to their destination, making sure not to hit each other, or people on foot or bikes.
This is sort of how traffic flows on Spring Garden Road, the street that creates our most valuable urban real estate. Traffic calming, like allowing on-street parking, can improve safety, traffic flow, and the economic value of a street.
We all know that “slow and steady wins the race", right? Right?
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