WALK - DON’T WALK

Last week a pedestrian and a local bus heading towards downtown Des Moines met up at the corner of East Grand and Sixth. The bus driver was paying attention to traffic headed in the opposite direction as he made a left-hand turn. The pedestrian was crossing the street at the light, although the police report indicated that the “Don’t Walk” light was lit. Neither the bus driver nor the pedestrian was charged with any traffic violation and a police officer said it was just an unfortunate accident. (News reports indicated that the pedestrian was taken to a hospital in critical condition.)

I have seen my share of pedestrians acting as though the world revolves around them. One instance in particular remains sharp in my mind. I was in Chicago in 2002, standing at a corner with several other people waiting for the light to turn green. A young, tall, blonde woman and her male companion, strode right through the gathered group as the woman commented loudly that she didn’t know why people were just standing there. I shouted to the woman as she arrogantly crossed the street and forced motorists to stop that we were standing around because cross-traffic had the right of way.

I also have seen my share of motorists barely considering pedestrians. Shortly after moving to Des Moines, I concluded that the most dangerous place to be is in a crosswalk on a street that leads directly to an Interstate on-ramp. I have observed Des Moines drivers barely slow down, let alone pause at Stop signs. Similarly, signed pedestrian crosswalks are not a high priority for motorists as a KCCI Channel 8 TV reporter discovered a few days ago when she counted 70 cars pass through a downtown crosswalk where she was standing.

Despite the frequency with which most people use roadways, I find that the vast majority of people have no clue how the various parts of the transportation infrastructure are integrated. In other words, motorists don’t understand when pedestrians need to walk in the street. Bicyclists get yelled at by both motorists and pedestrians, and do plenty of their own yelling, too. Pedestrians don’t realize how many other factors motorists must consider. One of the transit safety buttons I created for MRF Communications states very simply that Rock-Paper-Scissors, when applied to cars, pedestrians, and bicycles, is no longer a child’s game.

Instead of trying to one-up each other, we need to start working together on transportation issues. Roads receive most of the attention, as well as most of the money. Meanwhile, pedestrian pathways, e.g., sidewalks, are vastly underfunded and often poorly maintained. Attention given to bicyclists is closer to that for pedestrians than for motorists. Somewhere, somehow, but now, not just sometime, we need to make comprehensive transportation discussions part of our routine communications.

Guest Author: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.