…is by far the most risky place for a pedestrian to cross a street. Did you know that?
Sadly, this month, three Libertyville students were struck by cars, while crossing roads at the middle of the block*. We were relieved to hear that none of them were badly injured.
A look at statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tells us that 76% of fatal pedestrian accidents occur between intersections. Assuming that most people cross streets and roads safely at intersections means that it is significantly more than three times as dangerous to cross streets away from intersections.
We have brought up walk-to-school programs before on this blog and believe strongly that, as a society, we do need to get the next generation used to walking and biking more. For health reasons, for environmental reasons and to increase quality of life. Parents may think they do their kids a favor when they drive them to school. In fact, it has the opposite result. More cars lead to more accidents, more exhaust and less exercise. It is time to discuss investing in walk-to-school programs, not just more lanes for cars. We would like to see more parents teaching kids from an early age how to walk safely and we would like to see incentives to keep cars away from schools.
So what do kids need to learn before you can let them loose? Based on the statistics mentioned above , safety precautions can be boiled down to:
1.
- Use cross walks! Don’t cross at the middle of the block. Cross walks at intersections are safer than cross walks in the middle of the block.
- Use safety reflectors when walking from dusk through dawn. (70% of pedestrian accidents occur during the dark hours.)
Those two pieces of advice would go a long way! However, from personal experience, we’d like to add this one: - Before crossing, even if you have a green light, look back to check that the driver in the right turn lane has seen you. Too many are on their cell phones and have no idea that you are there.
* In the article it is stated that the high school student crossed at an intersection. However, right there, the highway has no stop signs, no traffic lights and there is no pedestrian cross walk, which gives drivers a perception of being “in the middle of the block” although there is a small road crossing.
The funflector team
