What will it take to keep Newporters safe??
Letter to the Editor — Crosswalk Safety
How many more citizens must lose their lives to vehicular accidents while crossing the street and cycling around our city for our elected officials to do something about it?
Per a press release posted Tuesday morning by the Newport Police Department, on Monday night, an individual lost their life crossing a designated crosswalk on Broadway at Bedlow Avenue when they were hit by a motor vehicle.
It was less than a year ago that a woman lost her life when she was hit by a motor vehicle while cycling across the Admiral Kalbfus Road and Hillside Avenue intersection.
I’ve lived in Newport my whole life and have never seen traffic as bad as it has been over the past year, especially this summer on Broadway.
Upon hearing this heartbreaking news Tuesday morning, I reached out to City Council and the Police Department and requested that the city consider the implementation of the crosswalk flag and/or illuminated crosswalk systems for pedestrians to use.
Wakefield, RI installed a crosswalk flag system on its Main Street several years ago to make pedestrians more visible to drivers. Pedestrians can take the orange flags from bins on either side of the crosswalk and wave them at drivers before and while crossing the street.
This installation helped to raise the awareness about pedestrian safety and according to South Kingstown’s Police Chief, drivers were more likely to yield to a pedestrian with a flag and stop at the crosswalk.
At the time of this Letter to The Editor, I have heard back from two of our seven City Councilors. One of the responses was that the area in question doesn’t have a whole lot of lighting, pedestrians shouldn’t try to venture into the crosswalks unless cars going North and South have completely stopped, and there is no guarantee that the pedestrians would use a flag system if implemented anyway.
How is poor lighting the fault of the citizens? Why isn’t every single crosswalk in Newport under sufficient lighting?
Of course, all people, no matter what type of transportation they are using to get around Newport, should be practicing proper safety measures. But the least that the city can do to ensure the safety of its residents, and those visiting our city, is to put the PROPER resources in place.
WE NEED sufficient lighting at ALL crosswalks!! WE NEED more on-demand traffic lights, similar to what was implemented on Memorial Avenue, on other busy Newport streets like Broadway!! And WE NEED more safety measures in place like the crosswalk flag system and illuminated crosswalks!!
What we currently have in place doesn’t reflect the rapid growth of our city, Newporters DESERVE more robust safety resources!
LET’S FINALLY DO WHAT IS NEEDED TO KEEP PEOPLE SAFE!
Steph Smyth
Newport