Safe Crossings
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Tuesday, March 4, 2008
By RUTH MALAN
Standard-Examiner correspondent
Sunset steps up measures for public safety
SUNSET -- Dakota Huybers crossed 2300 North, holding a brightly colored flag that he placed into a holder at the corner.
The flags, recently installed at several Sunset intersections, are designed to make pedestrians more visible to drivers.
"I think it is a good idea, especially at night," Huybers said. "Most people wear black now, and they would show up better at night."
His friend, Colby Morgan, agreed, although he is concerned someone might steal the flags.
"They are a good idea, since there is no crossing guard here," Morgan said.
Heather Warren didn't take a flag from its holder to cross 2300 North on her way home from school.
"I'm not using those flag things -- I'd feel like a geek," she said. "We have always been able to cross normally. Why should we use them now?"
But Warren was in the minority last week, when the flags first became available. Most of those crossing the street said they felt safer using the bright flags.
"People will stop if they see them," said Autumn Jackson. "I think it is a good idea."
That's what former Councilman Chad Bangerter thinks. He serves as the volunteer in police service with the city's Citizen Corps, which implemented the flag program.
"Some of our streets have 20,000 cars a day traveling on them," Bangerter said. "It is getting hard for children and seniors to cross the streets."
He said he is familiar with the flags in Salt Lake City and saw that they were working to help people safely cross streets.
DARE officers will be teaching children how to use the flags and letting them know that they must still make eye contact with drivers before crossing, even with a flag in hand.
"The flag makes them a little more visible," Bangerter said.
One of the city's busiest intersections is 2300 North and 250 West, both because it is at a major east-west thoroughfare and because a lot of junior high students cross there, he said.
The Citizen Corps is working with Clearfield to put flags at the 800 North intersection at the boundary of the two cities.
Bangerter said the group is also working with the Utah Department of Transportation to get better crossings on Main Street.
Now that the flags are there, pedestrians need to be educated, he said.
A pedestrian should take a flag from the container at the intersection and, after crossing the street, place the flag into the container on the other side.
The flags have already been installed along 250 West on 1300 North near City Hall, and on 800 North, 1800 North and 2300 North.
Bangerter said there would be an ongoing cost with the flags because they wear out and have to be replaced. The program is funded entirely by private contributions from city businesses and residents.
It costs about $200 to put flags at one intersection, he said. Each container holds about 20 flags.
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