It is a problem that is finally gaining more and more attention in the world at large. As it should.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a pedestrian is killed in the United States every one hour and 50 minutes. A pedestrian is seriously injured every nine minutes.
Thirty six percent of those pedestrians 70 and older were killed in intersections, compared to only 20 percent of younger (than 70) pedestrians.
This is no mystery to me; I have been witnessing people getting hit and almost hit at the intersection of First and Roy Street and Queen Anne Avenue North and Roy for years.
Older folks are somehow more trusting and less alert, stepping slowly into crosswalks when the walk light comes on, often without looking.
This can be fatal in a country where more and more drivers are driving while eating, drinking and cellphoning. In the past six months I have crossed Roy Street, going south down Queen Anne Avenue North, six mornings a week. I haven't seen one driver stop for the yellow light, and I'd estimate one in 10 are still coming after the yellow has turned red.
The Federal Highway Administration, in an attempt to help pedestrians dodging traffic in crosswalks, is suggesting increasing by 15 percent the amount of time traffic signals allow pedestrians to cross safely. This seems to be a necessary measure in a country where, in 2006, 4,784 pedestrians were killed by drivers. Horrifically, 471 of those were killed inside crosswalks.
While Seattle has done little but talk about doing something, our progressive neighbors to the south in Portland have gone ahead with a program I'd like to see in our fair city. Portland city officials discovered that 49 percent of their vehicle-pedestrian crashes took place inside crosswalks. They decided the situation had to change.
Portland police now conduct monthly crackdowns similar to drunken driving operations. Police go to an intersection where pedestrians have filed multiple complaints against motorists. They post signs warning drivers of "crosswalk enforcement ahead."
They also put out pedestrian decoys. Drivers who don't stop are pulled over by nearby motorcycle cops and cited and/or arrested. In addition, Portland has an ongoing "I Brake for People" advertising campaign.
We could have had something like this, but we have the South Lake Union trolley instead. Each and every time I've seen the newest Paul Allen toy, the toy has been almost empty, night or day.
People have tried to compare this boondoggle to the Monorail, but at least that train is in the sky and does attract tourists. What kind of lame-o is going to travel here to ride a shiny, updated streetcar?
Portland's city government must have slightly different priorities from ours. Oh yeah, they have a well-run commuter train system, too - not a bus tunnel that cost billions and then had to be closed for two years before it was 20 years old.
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