Redesigned Crosswalks Could Save Walkers' Lives

[SoCalDem]

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662244/clever-crosswalk-squashes-jaywalking-by-making-it-legal

Clever Crosswalk Squashes Jaywalking, by Making it Legal

Eat your heart out, coppers!

Jaywalking: Everyone does it, so you might as well legalize it. But is there any way to make it less dangerous?

Design to the rescue! Korean designer Jae Min Lim has the clever idea to turn crosswalks into, well, “J”s. By curving the typical Zebra crossing to take up a wider swath of road, you carve out a nice, safe path for pedestrians -- one that reflects how they actually walk.

snip... for diagrams & photos

And you'd barely affect gridlock. Sure, cars would have to stop a bit further away from the traffic light. But ostensibly, you’d also have fewer car-on-pedestrian accidents, which can turn a daily commute into something like this.

Lim’s concept was shortlisted in the Design for All competition sponsored by Designboom and the Seoul Design Fair. He calls it the Ergo Crosswalk (short for ergonomic), and for added safety, he envisions LED Zebra stripes that tell pedestrians when to cross by glowing red or green. We’re not sure about that. It could confuse cars into thinking they’ve got a greenlight when they don’t. But we’re all for jaywalking. Sanctioned jaywalking, that is.

[dkf]

1. Are they saying most pedestrian accidents come from walking slightly outside the painted lines?

I'm not sure about that.

[NV Whino]

5. I am

If a person is continuing in the same direction, they usual stay in the walk. If a person is making a 90 after landing on the sidewalk, the tendency is to cut the corner. I do it myself.

In SF (or any large city), people line up at the curb for the light to change. If it's a big lineup, they spread out – outside of the crosswalk lines so they can be first in the street. This is not a bad idea, but I agree that the Barnes shuffle is a better solution. I remember that solution from Denver.

[Richard D]

2. I think the best thing I've seen . . .

. . . are the crosswalks where pedestrians have time to cross any way they want. All traffic is stopped and the entire intersection is pedestrian only. It's pretty common in parts of Europe and eliminates pedestrians and cars being in the intersection at the same time.

[Gaedel]

4. All cars stop, pedestrians cross any way they want.

That technique was invented here in the US by a famous traffic engineer named Barnes. Pedestrians referred to it as the "Barnes Dance".

Barnes was the traffic engineer in Flint, Denver, Baltimore, and New York (where he was fired after confrontations with Moses).

[whistler162]

3. Unrec for bashing on people who are trying to save lives

by enforcing the law.

Now if pedestrians could be convinced to NOT walk when the light shows DON'T WALK. That would be a major breakthrough!

[RC]

8. Never question laws, correct? The law is the law for a good reason?

There is way too much of this type of thinking in this country!

[NV Whino]

6. This isn't about jaywalking

which is crossing against the light or in the middle of the block without a crosswalk. It's about cutting corners when you enter or leave a crosswalk.

[gophates]

7. If you want to save pedestrian lives

Raise the gas tax, place a yearly usage tax on cars, and fund mass transit. Fewer cars means less risk.

[RC]

9. Sure. A sizable town in this state is 5000 people. And not too many of those.

Buses and light rail would not be very cost effective when the next town of any size is 40 miles away and there is already 2 or 3 bars in your own town.

[MilesColtrane]

10. If it will stop jackwagons from running out in the crosswalk after the light has turned green...

I'm all for it. (Or, if it makes such a moron more visible to the stopped motorist.)

I nearly clipped an idiot who dashed into the crosswalk after the light turned green Friday night.

If I hadn't seen him at the last second he would have been hit and I would have been my fault.