It will soon be a little safer to cross some of the city’s busy intersections: 150 traffic signals around the city will be changed to allow a head-start for pedestrians before the lights turn green for cars.
There are currently 50 leading pedestrian interval (LPI) intersections around Seattle, in which pedestrians are given a 3- to 7-second head start before the green light. SDOT says they’ll be installing 150 more by 2021, including one at Fremont Ave N and N 36th St, and another at N 90th St and Greenwood Ave N by the end of June.
Federal highway studies show that LPI intersections result in 60 percent fewer pedestrian-vehicle collisions. SDOT says that crashes involving a turning vehicle account for three-quarters of all collisions at intersections with traffic signals.
SDOT prioritized LPIs in urban villages and centers, areas where a serious injury or fatal pedestrian crash occurred in the past three years, and near public and private schools within Seattle.
The new policy means that SDOT will evaluate adding one of the new LPI signals every time they build a new traffic signal or do signal maintenance work that provides the opportunity for an upgrade.
“We’ll make the change unless there’s a specific reason why it does make sense in a particular location,” SDOT’s Ethan Bergerson says in a statement.
To read more about the changes, visit SDOT’s blog.
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Great news! They should have done this long ago, but I’m glad it’s finally being implemented.
I’m happy to see this being implemented. I hope they also prioritize installing these in areas with high senior citizen populations.
Studies have shown this is actually more dangerous because pedestrians are further into the road when they are struck by a car.
Please link to the “Studies” troll. You alt-right types never have any facts.
I’d really like to see those studies as well. You’d think the professionals at SDOT would know about this and be proactive in informing the public that it is less dangerous to be struck by a car near the point where one steps into a crosswalk than further into it.
Have you seen 35th? It’s just a death trap for cyclists. SDOT doesn’t care about anyone who isn’t in a car.
I wonder if cars are just aiming for you. 35th NW is a 4 blocks long residential street, there is no NW 35, but N 35th which stretches from Fremont to Wallingford is not an arterial and has excellent, well-marked crosswalks at the two main intersections with Stone Way and Fremont Ave.
Where are you having trouble?
So what you are saying is you have no study or facts. Not surprised.
Yes, 35th is bad for cyclists, but the conversation is about pedestrians and crosswalk timing. How is your comment relevant troll? And let me guess, you’ve never ridden 35th yourself, you just got your info of the local news stories yesterday?
Nope
Facts and real life experience will never stand in the way of a troll’s fake outrage.
Yesterday I honked at a woman who was in the crosswalk with the “don’t walk” sign clearly on. I was trying to turn thru the crosswalk during my green light. She was looking at her phone. She got the long 10 second honk. Dumbass, that’s a good way to get hurt.
Was she in the crosswalk with the “don’t walk” sign on or did she enter the crosswalk with the “don’t walk” sign on? Makes a huge difference.
She entered with the solid “don’t walk” sign on. No blinking and no countdown. Had she been in the crosswalk and it turned on, I would have did nothing and waited for her to cross.
I’m generally against honking, but if she entered on the “don’t walk” and was looking at her phone rather than focusing on getting across the street and out of the roadway, I fully support your laying on the horn.