Plan for Pedestrians
Faced with an escalation in the number of traffic fatalities involving pedestrians, here’s what the city of Berkeley, California, recently tried. They placed little umbrella stands full of fluorescent orange bicycle flags on each side of a busy intersection. Then they encouraged pedestrians wishing to cross that intersection to select a flag and wave it as they crossed the street, to increase their visibility to oncoming drivers.
As a native Ohioan, I think I can say with some authority that one could never enlist the cooperation of large numbers of self-conscious Midwesterners to take part in any such experiment. But you have to credit the Californians for giving it a try. Prompted by a few controversial studies claiming that marking a crosswalk actually increases the chances of an accident, municipal traffic engineers in their state had been ordering the removal of zebra striping. Their choices for ways to protect people negotiating traffic on foot were dwindling.
Here in Cleveland, a Near West artist is going to try something else. Marina Marquez-Zenkov is now collecting photos, essays and even poems on the subject of specific local crosswalks and areas in need of crosswalk enforcement. She will use these submissions as a basis for a show at CIG Gallery as well as a performance piece to be presented at target locations. The gallery will also host a planning charrette with the goal of creating more effective pedestrian crossing zones.
Whatever the location of your street-crossing nightmare, document it and send it in to Marina at Creative Impetus Gallery, 2512 Church Avenue, 44113, or email marquezenkov@hotmail.com