Pedestrians and cyclists are sometimes killed or injured in our modest Midwestern town. Since I am both, (and sometimes a motorist as well) I watch planning and new construction carefully. And what to my wondering eye should appear, in a street project just two blocks from my house? A pedestrian refuge island!
I used to have to drive my kids to junior high, because the bus wouldn’t stop at our street and the pedestrian journey (especially this intersection) was not safe. They would walk home, when there would be less time pressure, which tends to make pedestrians take risks, and it could take several minutes to cross here.
When my kids graduated from high school, I began crossing this intersection every day myself at my new job at the university. I did this for over twenty years, and it was a high-stakes strategy game every time. You had to coordinate predictions of crossing time as traffic streams passing East and West as pseudo random periods of motor traffic grouping overlapped, while also predicting the behavior of drivers whose attention and responses made every crossing a gamble.
A pedestrian was killed at another intersection not far away, and the town’s response (one year later) was to put up a “beg button” that pedestrians could press to plead for cars to stop:
The lights blink, and sometimes car traffic stops. A few drivers take it as an invitation to accelerate if they are on the side of the street opposite the pedestrian’s entry.
I wrote to the city while they were polling the public for ideas, asking for a pedestrian refuge island here, but this was their ‘solution,’ interfering with both motor AND pedestrian traffic.
Pedestrian refuge islands massively simplify the calculus of crossing. One need only predict a single lane or direction at a time, and not the complex timing overlap of an opposing lane. They can cross one lane, wait a moment, and cross the other lane. No one needs to second-guess anybody.
The two refuge islands (one at each side of the crossing street of this very high-volume pedestrian path) takes the place of left-turn lanes which were an occasional convenience for drivers, but had little impact on safety.
I’ve observed a few drivers who aren’t quite sure how to approach a pedestrian island; they will come to a stop in their lane and invite the pedestrians to cross in front of them. Don’t do this! Just drive on normally and let the refuge island do its job. The pedestrian will cross behind you in the next traffic gap in your directional lane(s).
I would like to say; “THANK YOU!” to the Town Of Normal for incorporating this vital safety feature, and for the other work they are doing around the university campus (such as the crossing improvements at the intersection of Fell and Beaufort streets). Auto traffic will flow more smoothly, and pedestrian traffic – also known as “adults and children on foot” – will be able to cross more quickly and safely.
NOTES:
- The Global Designing Cities Initiative has a great ‘Designing For Pedestrians‘ guide that cities can use to accommodate all kinds of traffic including people not in a car.
- The ‘Crash Modification Factors Clearinghouse‘ has a nice Unsignalized Intersection Improvement Guide PDF that describes “Provide A Pedestrian Refuge Island”
- New York City has an excellent Street Design Manual that covers many aspects of designing for safety and traffic flow. You will find similar guides from many major cities that take this issue seriously, and they are excellent for study.
