Pedestrian Safety, East Atlanta, and EACA

Tuesday evening I attended my first East Atlanta Community Association meeting in about a year.  During the last year of Nancy's life I didn't attend meetings of any sort, and since her departure my attention span for meetings has not been good.

But I finally acknowledged what I've known for a long time, that the most efficient means for the citizen of a neighborhood to have a positive impact is to help out in the local community group, which in my case is EACA.  So I went to the meeting.

As it turns out, one of the items of discussion was entitled "2005 EACA Objectives" and a presentation of proposed tasks and priorities for EACA was delivered by Jennifer Murray, EACA's Vice President.

Predictably (and somewhat to my dismay, since I'm trying to not take on too many additional tasks too quickly) a signup sheet was passed around, broken down into the various issues and tasks.  I sat staring at the sheet, and began thinking about committments I already have, and noticed that no one had signed up for Pedestrian Safety.

So I reluctantly signed my name to the sheet.

I have very strong feelings about this issue, and some of my thoughts on the issue have been somewhat contrarian.  Metro-wide even the most minimal compliance with pedestrian right-of-way in crosswalks is atrocious.  Mid block crosswalks in Atlanta, and in fact state wide, are an absolute joke.  I've very seldom seen a driver stop for a pedestrian waiting at a mid block crossing in Atlanta or in any of its suburbs (with the exception of one part of Peachtree, explained below), and even in less ambiguous circumstances at signalized intersections with walk lights, drivers seldom stop unless pedestrians assert their right by surging forward at some risk.

The only place I've spent substantial time where pedestrian right of way was consistently honored is in Canadian towns and cities.  I remember walking through downtown Truro and being astonished that drivers would pull to a complete stop for me not only at signalized intersections, but at any crosswalk, no matter what its position relative to the interesection.

Now part of this was undoubtably the renowned (or notorious, depending on one's perspective) tendency of Canadians to comply with rules.  But part of it was a culture of respect for pedestrian rights, and the clear knowledge of the citizens that it's the law.  After all, the same basic law regarding pedestrian rights in crosswalks applies in Georgia as in Nova Scotia, or Ontario, or British Columbia.  The difference is that in those areas the law is complied with, and presumably enforced.

Hence my contrarian attitude.  While I have no real objections to attempts to engineer pedestrian safety into the built environment via traffic calming schemes as long as noxious unintended consequences are avoided, I don't believe for a second that engineered solutions are the overall answer to the problem.

The solution as I see it is broad education of drivers concerning the law combined with strict enforcement.  At the moment the only place I know of that the crosswalk ordinances are being strictly enforced is at Peachtree just north of Five Points.  The reason for the crackdown was the opening of Georgia State University's Aderhold building in Fairlie-Poplar, which created a steady flow of students between the main body of the campus and the Aderhold Building.

Watching the ticketing of violaters is fascinating, because it becomes obvious that the violaters are confused that they've broken any law.  After all, in every other part of the metro area the same things are done, and not only have they never personally been ticketed, but they don't even know anyone who's ever been ticketed for plowing through a crosswalk full of pedestrians, much less with pedestrians waiting to cross.

So to repeat my main point, the key to pedestrian safety in East Atlanta, and in Atlanta as a whole is consistent education, and consistent enforcement.   And this means not only the nobrainer intersections like Glenwood and Flat Shoals, where any reasonable individual would want to insist that the laws be obeyed, but at the crossing at Moreland and Sanders, where there is no traffic signal, a crosswalk, and absolutely no compliance of the law by any driver I've ever seen.

Comments

[Bess]

Larry,
Thanks for the pictures inside the Madison Theater. What is the current status?
I had always heard it could never be made use of due to the lack of parking. If someone is doing a refurb then that is great news.

[Jennifer Murray]

Larry -

Thank you for taking the time to document your perspective re: pedestrian safety. I am in total agreement with your recommended approach (i.e. educate and enforce). After my presentation the other night, I needed to focus on completing a renovation project at my home which will be final late this week. Early next week I will work with Dennis Madsen, EACA President, to pull together each of the committees to assist with development of short and long range plans. Thank you so much for volunteering your time against this important initiative.

Jenny

[Brad]

Larry, picking up on our conversation - I forgot the police precinct, but it's the same as the rest of Grant Park. I admit I haven't been too involved in the past year in my neighborhood, I had an initial interest, but it has waned. I would attend a Grant Park meeting tomorrow though, if it wasn't for the Belt Line meeting in Midtown.

[Larry Felton Johnson]

Bess,

I'm not current on the Madison situation, but I'll find out soon and post an update. For awhile I would run into the last group of people working on renovations (there've been at least two seperate attempts in the past ten or so years), but all I have is rumors at the moment.

[Larry Felton Johnson]

Thanks Jennifer. I look forward to discussing it with y'all.

[Larry Felton Johnson]

Brad,

If you're with the rest of Grant Park you are in Zone 3 (the zone headquartered in the southwest corner of the park).

[Anthony Baker]

Canadians stopping for pedestrians. Although I am not sure about English Canada I don't see too much stopping in Montreal. Luckily, on the island of Montreal no one can turn right on red which saves a lot of lives.

I remember I tried a pedestrian crosswalk on Ponce just east of Linwood Ave and some moron actually speed up to pretend he was going to kill me.

I am surprised by the general stupidity of people considering you could probably go to jail a long time for vehicular manslaughter.

[chutney]

Boston is great for pedestrians. And buses and bikes. Cars are ruthless to each other, but very courteous to other road users.

Are there plans available online for the new work in EAV? Are they incorporating any of the brick lined road hump/crosswalks? Those at least make cars have to slow down, and the height makes the crosswalks more obvious.

Spot enforcement of crosswalks would go a long way. They should start with high traffic, high pedestrian areas like Buford Hiway and Memorial. Word would get out: you're risking a ticket.

[Larry Felton Johnson]

Chutney,

After I saw your note here I browsed around for online renderings of the streetscape plan. I haven't found anything yet, but I'll ask some of the EACA folks at the next opportunity. There was a report on the plan at the last EACA meeting, but I didn't take very coherent notes (first meeting in a long time, I was just refamiliarizing myself).

[Sherry Hays]

This is an issue that is rapidly becoming a fetish to me. I am one of the drivers that "actually" stop for pedestrians (then cringe as I look in my rear view mirror to be certain that I am not going to be hit. I live in Morningside and travel the roads continuously and I have a problem with pedestrians. Just as you have stated that most drivers are not aware of the crosswalk laws, MANY pedestrians expect cars to stop as the stroll across streets 50 feet from a crosswalk. This is a problem but not the biggest. My main issue - and I have addressed this with Morningside Lenox Park Association, Atlanta Track Club, and VAHI Association, is joggers. This morning on the way in at 6:30 (dark by the way) a woman running south on Highland (in the road with her back to oncoming traffic - ME!) weaves out into the middle of the lane in front of Starbucks to go around parked cars. She never looked back but expected cars to adjust for her. I layed on the horn, she never even flinched. This is not uncommon and is just plain scary! Julia Emmons wrote an article in the track club magazine asking runners to use common sense, obviously this woman doesn't.
My question is - what are the laws governing people in the roads and protecting drivers? I have had runners (two abreast) move into my lane causing me to swerve to avoid them - what if there is another car.

I need help, and am willing to help, do you have any ideas?