More crosswalks for pedestrian safety and convenience

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Edited by Kyle, Tuesday, 19 January 2016, 9:22 PM
An issue many people face, including myself, are the rare existence of mid-road crosswalks within many cities of Washington State. Walking and biking are my main forms of transportation for me. The most problematic issue i encounter walking is having to walk to a distant intersection to cross over to the other side of a road safely and legally. An even worse scenario for me is crossing a wide, busy road on my bicycle to get to a convenient store i'll be working at. The road doesn't have any stop lights or crosswalks at all and by what i’ve seen, fatal traffic accidents occur much more on the road than others. Due to this fact, i fear crossing the road. I’ve known and seen many others that encounter these very same issues as me. To reduce traffic accidents involving pedestrians, I propose that all single and long roads are require to have at least two forms of a pedestrian crosswalk. It could be as cheap as a pedestrian crossing sign to a full blown stoplight intersection depending on the traffic the road has. If a city council wants to use there funding for a different project they will still be required to have the lowest form of a crosswalk. A miniscule increase onto Public Road Construction taxes would pay for materials and construction costs for the crosswalks. Enforcement for pedestrian safety would be based on current Washington State Pedestrian Laws. A new law would also be formed specifically for pedestrians that will fine any seen idlers on crosswalks that prevent traffic flow. Success of this policy will be based on annual pedestrian accident statistics acquired by the Washington State government. GRADE Analysis: Goal: Creation of more mid-road crosswalks Rivals Supporters: students, parents, exercisers, non-automobile commuters Opposers: auto-mobile users, taxpayers, working class Advantages: Reduces dangers and penalties placed on pedestrians and drivers by reducing jaywalking and negligence at costs as low as paint and a sign. Disadvantages: Increases slowing traffic and doesn’t ensure physical protection. Also increase the chances of automobile accidents Evaluate: Comparing a small tax to a human life, this policy seems to outweigh disadvantages. The worst thing to come out of this policy is slower traffic but this could happen also without crosswalks due to traffic accidents caused by jay walkers could happen also without crosswalks due to traffic accidents caused by jay walkers
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