Yeah. Our brains are conditioned to assume people are more likely to be in a crosswalk. It’s also why I drive slowly past long rows of parked cars. I’ve been conditioned to assume a kid is going to jump out.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Does painting a crosswalk really increase safety? I feel like the type of person not pay attention and run someone over is the type of person to not care if there’s a crosswalk, not pay attention, and run someone over.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Most folks are not conditioned to be thoughtful.
Kissaki@feddit.org 1 day ago
Checking Wikipedia; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_crossing#Safety
The safety of unsignalled pedestrian or zebra crossings is somewhat contested in traffic engineering circles.
Research undertaken in New Zealand showed that a zebra crossing without other safety features on average increases pedestrian crashes by 28% compared to a location without crossings. However, if combined with (placed on top of) a speed table, zebra crossings were found to reduce pedestrian crashes by 80%.
A five-year U.S. study of 1,000 marked crosswalks and 1,000 unmarked comparison sites found that on most roads, the difference in safety performance of marked and unmarked crossings is not statistically significant, unless additional safety features are used. On multilane roads carrying over 12,000 vehicles per day, a marked crosswalk is likely to have worse safety performance than an otherwise similar unmarked location, unless safety features such as raised median refuges or pedestrian beacons are also installed. […] The marking pattern had no significant effect on safety. This study only included locations where vehicle traffic was not controlled by a signal or stop sign.
Traffic accidents are reduced when intersections are daylighted, i.e. visibility increased such as by removing adjacent parked cars.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Research undertaken in New Zealand showed that a zebra crossing without other safety features on average increases pedestrian crashes by 28% compared to a location without crossings.
See, that’s mostly what I was thinking. “Zebra stripes” make pedestrians feel safe to cross, and have virtually no impact on drivers who can easily just ignore them. But paired with other things they are a good addition, especially since it tells pedestrians where to cross.
squaresinger@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I’d like to see the methodology. A zebra crossing also increases foot traffic compared to a location without crossings.
Kissaki@feddit.org 1 day ago
The quoted Wikipedia article has some source references which I chose not to include for conciseness/readability.
KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world 2 days ago
It’s probably incremental but, IMO, a crosswalk does imply a certain amount of pedestrian traffic that might encourage a smidge of extra attention and double checking from some drivers, vs a location that gives the appearance of having very infrequent pedestrian crossingsmay be far less frequent. That not to say that complacency is any kind of excuse. But it is how people are on average.
LilB0kChoy@piefed.social 2 days ago
On a large scale I have no idea but it does for me when I’m driving.
A crosswalk at an intersection, especially an unmetered one, serves as a warning that there’s enough regular pedestrian traffic or a risk that dictated it was needed.
Helps me, personally, to be extra aware for crossers.
ozymandias117@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I don’t understand why you would expect it not to increase safety.
It gives a visual cue to drivers that it is more likely someone is intending to cross at this location.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Any time I see an intersection I assume there might be people. Downtown where I’m at there’s rarely crosswalks at intersections unless it’s a major through road.