Pedestrian Safety Advice Rated from Most Insulting to Least
It's Pedestrian Safety Month. Let's review some of the classic messaging
I recently returned from Hawaii, which truly felt like a dream, in part because I was so jet lagged, but also because Hawaii is unbelievable in so many ways. Everyone I met was pretty much amazing.
I was speaking before this group that was smart and sympathetic. You donât go to a lecture about pedestrian safety unless you sorta already see this as a systems problem.
There was one guy in the audience. He made this very smart comment. He represented this good organization I respect. But then he followed on with this remark that we need to remind pedestrians to âlook both ways.â
Again, this guy I could tell was awesome. But when people make those kinds of remarks, I have to wonder whether they have literally ever walked anywhere.
Who walks blindly into traffic? I mean I know people do (drugs, mental health issues), but these are not the same people soberly considering pedestrian safety messaging. What is this kind of message for? I had to tell him, I donât think itâs at all helpful.
It got me thinking about the way we message on this issue, which Iâve written before I think is counterproductive. Itâs Pedestrian Safety Month right now â October. Itâs also a very dangerous time of year, because it starts getting dark early.
Itâs a good time to look at the ways weâre messaging to pedestrians, in my opinion. So below, I have listed some of the classic refrains, and why they are useless/insulting and rated them by how bad they are.
Look Both Ways
Weâve already covered this, but if you offer this advice for people over the age of 9 Iâm just going to assume you doubt their intelligence/dislike them. Who needs to be told this? If only it were this simple!
Itâs Mad Max out there. We are pretending we have this well ordered system that is so simple for people on foot to navigate. This must be a holdover from the 1950s when there were way fewer cars or something. We live in a giant Florida now of 10-lane suburban arterials, with a driveway every 25 feet. You have to look in more than two directions and even that isnât good enough.
FFS weâre still giving cars with 10-foot forward blind zones five-star safety ratings in the U.S. Nobody can see anything because we have these blocky Tahoes parked illegally by every crosswalk.
Grade: F--
Make Eye Contact
I love this idea that these interactions are so controlled. Just two (hopefully) sober strangers, on equal footing power and control wise, negotiating one of their safety. Through a wall of glass. Easy peasy, right?!!
Except that every other car has super tinted windows now? And most pedestrians are killed on wide, multi-lane arterials where this advice is absurd on its face? Also most pedestrian deaths happen at night where again, this doesnât work/apply.
But sure, if you happen to be stopped and the other person is stopped and close enough you can literally lock eyes with them, and itâs not raining or you donât have the sun in your eyes, wink at them, hand wave, invent a whole informal system of communication. Basically failsafe, because people never misunderstand each other even in circumstances that make one-on-one communication much much easier.
Grade: D-
Use Sidewalks when Available
When I started writing this, I was looking at what kind of advice was out there and this was generally the first thing. They also say, âif there arenât sidewalks, walk facing traffic.â
Sure, okay. But again, who needs to be told this? We sorta already failed people if theyâre having to walk on some highway shoulder. The best we can offer them in terms of safety protection is some boilerplate advice. We might as well say, âsucks to be you, bro!â âGood luck out there.â
I mean, this and then next one kinda goes in the Hunger Games Category: How-to-stay-safe-when-walking-in-our-post-apocalyptic-hellscape-with-no-accommodations-for-people-who-are-walking. At least if youâre facing an onslaught of vehicles traveling at high speeds â that could easily kill you â thereâs a chance maybe you could dive out of the way in time. But realistically, probably not? Again all of this is basic common sense if you donât want to die. Why are we pretending this is really helpful?
The point seems to be to pass judgement on folks for behaving a certain way (walking at all?) The rub is, if you find yourself on the shoulder of a dark highway at night, you might have sorta some bigger concerns on your mind than earning your âBoy Scout tips for safe walkingâ badge.
Grade: C-
Use Crosswalks when Available
Sort of same criticisms as above. Some of the advice will say âlook ahead if you donât see a crosswalk.'â We KNOW that there arenât enough crosswalks. How far ahead should you look? Should you go a third of a mile out of your way to use a crosswalk? Even though that will increase your exposure to traffic?
AND we also know nobody yields at crosswalks either. Yielding rates are like 15 percent at uncontrolled crosswalks, according to academic studies. Plus there is ZERO enforcement in cities like Cleveland anymore. Also, a good quarter of pedestrian deaths happen, you guessed it, in (marked!) crosswalks. These are not magical forcefields.
Studies have shown that pedestrians are more likely to use crosswalks if they are accessible, well timed, etc. So instead of lecturing them about this maybe we could do a better job making doing the right thing practical.
Where is the list of safety advice for agencies that control streets? Add more crosswalks, please and thank you. And youâre going to need extra stuff, like bumpouts, and leading pedestrian intervals, because otherwise everyone will just ignore them.
Grade: C
Wear Bright Clothing
Now I will acknowledge, itâs true that pedestrians would be safer if they were all lit up like Christmas trees. Sometimes these kinds of advice lists will say âcarry a flashlight,â which is probably the most realistic advice in this category, but still no one ever does this unless they are camping.
High-vis clothing, I have been doing this forever and Iâm not even sure where you buy this stuff. The hardware store? So the idea is, you would buy that and then put it on before you walked somewhere? Thatâs just a ton of preparation and planning. Who is that organized? Who takes safety walking that seriously? Only a small percentage of people.
If we really want this to happen, brighter clothes, in any serious way, it canât be left to the individual to this degree. Like we require childrenâs bikes to have reflectors. Shoes have to be required to have them, something like that for this to scale in any meaningful way. The least the agencies could do is give away this stuff if theyâre going to be all lecture-y about it.
People have lots of factors to consider when they dress. And this is just not something that fashion industry is churning out in a way that makes this practical for average folks.
Grade: D+
Do better, guys
One reason this stuff makes me mad is these agencies have power and they could change some of this. If theyâre so insistent on messaging, at least direct it at the more powerful party whose safety incentives are misaligned with their ability to cause harm: Thatâs right, DRIVERS! Especially drivers of super large vehicles.
These guy should use some basic safety education IMO. Drivers still donât really understand they need to yield to pedestrians when they are turning and they have the green.
But these agencies are NEVER able to muster the courage to give drivers any strenuous advice for some reason. YOU HAVE TO YEILD, MOTHERFUCKERS in Ford F250s with 55-inch grilles: That should be the messaging all Pedestrian Safety Month. Anything short of that is just classic, impotent, government agency ass-covering.
I mean I got hit by a car a couple years ago. I was in a crosswalk with the Walk signal. The driver drove off. The police didnât investigate. The intersection was poorly designed and even someone as dialed-in and connected as me canât get the damn thing fixed. And I still have to go through it EVERY DAY. And still, nobody yields to me.
Itâs not safe out there. Itâs not pedestriansâ faults. This whole routine is just part of the window dressing in some elaborate fantasy where we pretend that isnât true I guess.