Michael Dresser did some excellent reporting on this issue.
When it comes to pedestrians, Maryland is the anti-Vegas. What we have here is a dysfunctional relationship between drivers and walkers that helps ensure a seemingly permanent spot among the most dangerous states for pedestrians.
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But there are also cultural factors at work. Hedlund said that in California when a pedestrian moves to step off a curb, traffic cars are likely to stop. In Baltimore, they’re just as likely to speed up.
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Jamie Kendrick, Baltimore’s deputy transportation director, said that over the next month or so the city will seek bids on a project to install about 40 flashing signals, repaint the stripes on nearly 600 crosswalks, install more than 150 new handicapped-accessible ramps and curb cuts and put up nearly 700 pedestrian countdown signals.Kendrick said all of the projects will be undertaken in school zones. In addition, he said, the city will announce a significant investment this spring on traffic-calming measures.
These initiatives are quite welcome, but they don’t add up to a comprehensive policy. It does nothing about crosswalks that aren’t in school zones. It doesn’t crack down on scofflaws.
For that, the city and other Maryland jurisdictions need to step up enforcement.
According to Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the governor’s safety group, other states have stepped up enforcement efforts using “decoy” pedestrians to nab drivers who ignore crosswalks.
Such operations have been used to good effect in the areas of drunken-driving and seat belt use, but they don’t make much of a dent without a media effort that gives each citation a multiplier effect.
Kendrick said Baltimore last mounted a sting operation in September but he acknowledges that it wasn’t well-publicized. These programs need to be done with a splash — including inviting video coverage of the enforcement actions. It would be fair if they targeted crosswalk-violating drivers and jay-walking pedestrians equally.
Meanwhile, the General Assembly ought to reconsider its current fines for pedestrian-related offenses. Right now, a ticket for a motorist failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk — one of the most dangerous of moving offenses — carries a measly $90 fine. Shouldn’t it be closer to the penalty for passing a school bus with flashing red lights? A $570 fine would certainly get motorists’ attention.
Last year, New York adapted the “Elle’s Law” statute, named for a 3-year-old girl who was struck in a crosswalk and left in a coma by an SUV traveling in reverse on a one-way street to grab a convenient parking space. The law automatically suspends the license of any driver who strikes a pedestrian while driving recklessly. Not a bad idea.
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There is growing evidence that roads safer for pedestrains are safer for cyclists and roads safer for cyclists are safer for pedestrains. In the discussions that came up on this topic the following PBS video was highlighted how our road are dangerous by design:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bs-md-dresser-getting-there-024-20110121,0,2386744.storyoldId.20110201103429746