People approaching some unsignaled crosswalks in the District will soon be greeted with “Hi there. To cross the road, push the red button” and, in Spanish, “Para cruzar la calle, por favor toque el boton rojo por dos segundos.”
The orders come from a bilingual, motion-detecting squawk box that walks pedestrians through the proper way to cross a street, reminding them to step to the curb, look both ways, cross and even thank the drivers for stopping. Pushing the red button also triggers high-intensity flashing lights that remind drivers to stop at crosswalks without stoplights.
District officials said they hope to install at least three of the $12,500 devices this year in an effort to reduce pedestrian fatalities, which studies have shown are disproportionately foreign-born residents because they are less likely to own cars and often not familiar with U.S. safety laws.
The new technology is already being used in Miami-Dade County and St. Petersburg, Fla., where officials say drivers now yield to people in crosswalks 84 percent of the time, up from about 8 percent at 18 marked intersections.
Local leaders and police officials unveiled the devices as part of their 2008 Street Smart campaign Friday, pointing to a new report from Inova Regional Trauma Center that says an average of one pedestrian is killed every 4.4 days in the Washington region and nearly six pedestrians are injured every day.
Fairfax County Chairman Gerry Connolly said he saw two individuals jaywalking along Route 7 while driving to the announcement of the Street Smart campaign.
“One gentleman jutted out across many lanes of traffic, and then a little further down a woman pushing a baby carriage jaywalked while her toddler walked in front of her as a lookout,” Connolly said. “If we needed a reminder of why we’re here today, that should show us.”
The new campaign includes airing 500 radio ads, 22 transit shelter ads and 140 ads posted on the sides of buses. The ads depict a driver slamming into a pedestrian whose head smacks against the car’s windshield, while the car passenger screams in horror. They include the slogan: “Cross like your life depends on it.”
