[nagdu] Crosswalks

[Julie J.]

I have a mid block crosswalk very near my house.  I use it a few times a 
week.  It does have a stop light that is activated when you push the button. 
I have come the closest I ever have to getting hit while crossing that 
street.  It was evening and the sun would have been directly in the face of 
the driver.  that might have contributed, but mostly I think it's because 
the driver's aren't expecting pedestrians and they are only halfway paying 
attention to where they are going.  The driver was also an older lady and 
perhaps there are medical/physical issues that contributed to the situation. 
I don't know.  she did get out of her car and apologized profusely.  I think 
she was a lot more shaken by the situation than I was.

Once when I was vacationing in Jackson Hole Wyoming with my teen age son, we 
noticed that there they have these flags in holders where pedestrians can 
cross without traffic lights.   Apparently you grab a flag and display it to 
drivers as you cross the street mid block.  Jackson is a very small town, 
but they get a crazy number of tourists in there.  It's very near 
Yellowstone.  anyway I thought it was a very interesting concept to cope 
with the large amounts of pedestrians and limited traffic lights.  No one 
was run over while we were there, but no idea how safe it is over time.

Julie