Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

ffejie t1_irpx5qg wrote

I agree that drivers don't really stop at the stop signs. Plenty just kind of slow down and then plow through the intersection. Here's what will help, roughly in order of easy to impossible to imagine the city doing

  • Better street markings - a lot of existing stop lines are worn away and stop signs are not as obvious as they need to be. Also solid color crosswalks would help

  • Intersection daylighting - this is when you lose the last parking spot on a street to make it easier for pedestrians and drivers to see each other - Hoboken has done this all over the place and it works

  • Narrower streets - protect the bike lanes and squeeze the parallel parking closer to the drivers, like has been done in lots of areas of Paulus Hook (although those streets are much much wider to start from). This has been proven to slow down drivers and we get better bike lanes

  • Raised crosswalks - acts as a slight speed bump and stands out that the pedestrian has the right of way

  • Enforcement - a few well positioned cops for a few days every month would pay for themselves in traffic summons, but unlikely to be a priority of JCPD until someone gets killed

  • Speed bumps - I haven't seen any city really do this, but I suppose you could put these throughout the roads to slow everyone down. Unfortunately, many drivers just accelerate up to them - they don't exactly create calmer drivers

Here's what we shouldn't do:

  • Add traffic lights - drivers see a green as an invitation to accelerate through it. This would improve traffic flow, but make walking more dangerous
19

Bh10474 t1_irpy2jo wrote

Uhh…if the light is green and sign says do not walk you really shouldnt be crossing at that time even though you technically have the right of way as a pedestrian, because car vs human body, car always wins

2

ffejie t1_irqblak wrote

I don't think I said that pedestrians should be crossing against the light, but to be clear, pedestrians should not be crossing against the light. Is that better?

6

SyndicalistCPA t1_irsh4p4 wrote

> Intersection daylighting - this is when you lose the last parking spot on a street to make it easier for pedestrians and drivers to see each other

Feel like they've been doing this around Hamilton Park too but only use yellow paint, so people still park there. Fourth and Jersey used to a those plastic sticks along those corners (Like 3rd and Jersey) but they've been taken down for just yellow paint.

1

ffejie t1_irslefr wrote

Yes, it starts with something like yellow paint or those plastic bollards. That kind of stinks for implementation though.

Ideally you want curb bump outs like Hoboken has been doing. This also helps pedestrians with shorter crossings.

1