Pedestrians and cyclists don't emit greenhouse gases, it needs to be safer to be one in our cities [View all]

[CreekDog]

some key ideas to reduce the risks to both, as well as give both the opportunity to protect themselves from injury:

1) If pedestrians have a green in a crosswalk, drivers crossing that crosswalk should NOT have a green light. This is especially important for left and right turns which cross the crosswalk behind a pedestrian walking the same direction (who cannot see the traffic approaching or coming at them). Cars already don't have the right of way in such instance, but with a green light at the intersection, drivers aren't slowing as they approach the intersection --neglecting to consider pedestrians.

2) Ideally, intersections and crosswalks should be signaled so that pedestrians and cars are not signaled to be in the same crosswalks simultaneously. There are different ways to do this, and it is possible.

This situation needs to be avoided, the pedestrian can't see what's behind them and with a green signal, the drivers often don't slow down in advance of the crosswalk.


Going further, traffic signals need to separate pedestrians and crossing cars. Pedestrians need dedicated time for non motorized crossing, period. Cars need dedicated signals that doesn't allow them or encourage them to sneak their cars between pedestrians in the crosswalk --signals and traffic laws should prevent them from even encroaching on the crosswalk when pedestrians have a walk or green signal.



And bikes need better separation from cars as well, and safer bike lane configurations. This photo from Copenhagen shows how bikes can be physically separated from cars so that the bike lane is physically safer than when it is adjacent to the traffic lane.