by Janine D. in City Finances, Pedestrians, Public Health & Safety - Posted on July 7, 2009 at 10:40 am
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I have a new idea as to how Somerville can raise revenue: ticket jaywalkers. I drive through Davis Square daily to drop my son off at daycare and DAILY come across pedestrians who think it is OK to cross the street wherever they want. Sometimes the pedestrians look and sometimes they feel no need to watch for oncoming traffic. This problem is prevalent throughout Somerville, not just in Davis Square. Pedestrians, please cross the street in the cross. These crosswalks are designed for YOUR safety. By crossing wherever you want, you are putting yourself and drivers in danger of accidents causing possible injury to yourself and others.
And by the way, Somerville is not just Davis Square. This happens throughout the City.
Anyway, I was shocked at how wonderful it was to walk in Seattle where jaywalking is a ticketed offense and people actually pay attention when they are crossing the street. Can you imagine? Maybe this issue is something the Board of Alderman can focus on since it can possibly raise some much needed revenues for the city.
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Janine,
I suggest you give up your car for the brutal month of January – or August or the monsoon June – and try all your daily errands on foot. Then, we’ll see how you choose to get through the freezing cold, burning heat, or pouring rain. Walk a block to the painted lines or go directly?
Somerville and most of the Boston area is unlike Seattle and many other cities in that the roads are narrow enough for people to cross safely at many points. That is, as long as drivers aren’t speeding through crowded areas and pay attention to where they are going.
And yes, I drive as well as walk and bike. I pay for my tickets and parking permit.
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Janine, I agree on the jaywalkers and let’s add the people who bike around town ignoring all the rules of the road. You know the ones – riding the wrong way into incoming traffic on a snowy/icey day.
Sadly, the BoA doesn’t have time to deal with issues like this that directly impact residents – they’re too busy having to deal with all the wacky motions the PDS dreams up over their glasses of organic chablis. You know… motions like the federal stimulus bill (how’s those stimulus jobs coming, Obama? Real unemployment is at 16.5% and rising) and unilaterally disarming (let’s all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, so our enemies will love us and not attack).
We now have a progressive liberal city/state and federal government… and 16.5% real unemployment and a historic deficit. Who’d a thunk spending money we don’t have on programs/unions we don’t need we lead to our ruination. Oh yeah… me.
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James, when I cross the street with my son, I look to both sides of the street when crossing. This is something that none of the pedestrians seem to do. They feel they can walk across and I am going to stop. How am I supposed to know that “John/Jane Q. Pedestrian” is deciding to walk across Highland Avenue or Holland in the middle of the street? I pay attention when I am driving because I am both pregnant and usually have my toodler in the car. I don’t need to get the two of us into a horrible accident.
Your excuse for the cross walks being a block away is useless. They are all over in Davis Square.
I have a car for a reason. I live in an area of Somerville with only buses and no T.
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Janine, I agree on the jaywalkers and let’s add the people who bike around town ignoring all the rules of the road. You know the ones – riding the wrong way into incoming traffic on a snowy/icey day.
Sadly, the BoA doesn’t have time to deal with issues like this that directly impact residents – they’re too busy having to deal with all the wacky motions the PDS dreams up over their glasses of organic chablis. You know… motions like the federal stimulus bill (how’s those stimulus jobs coming, Obama? Real unemployment is at 16.5% and rising) and unilaterally disarming (let’s all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, so our enemies will love us and not attack).
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Yes, there are many clueless pedestrians that could care less about regulations. If they get nailed by law-abiding drivers for flouting the law, they deserve it…
But meanwhile, there are plenty of cyclists riding the sidewalks in the squares (esp. Union Square), flagrantly violating the local ordinance, and creating hazardous settings for senior citizens and disabled pedestrians…
Must a senior pedestrian–or a local pol–get clobbered by a rogue sidwalk cyclist in order for this travesty to get our attention?
No other city in the US feigns ignorance of pedestrian safety in this vein, yet glibly accepts an All-American City Award!
What a travesty!
Are you reading this Mayor Joe? Can you get a handle on this?
Or is real and sustained pedestrian safety here not a priority?
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Thanks Xumi and Gulch. I live outside of Union Square and see this on a daily basis. My husband is from the UK and went to Cambridge University (a university that relies heavily on bicycles). He is always amazed at how bicyclists in the US have complete disregard for the rules of riding bikes. Bikes are not made for sidewalks (unless you are a child). You would think that some organization or bike store would have a class or classes on the rules of riding within the cities.
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Crossing recklessly is something that no one should do, and there are definitely plenty of people who don’t look or don’t care that traffic is coming and they don’t have the right of way.
However, one big problem, particularly in Davis Square, is unfair and inconvenient pedestrian crossing signals.
Unlike our neighbor Cambridge, almost all pedestrian signals in Somerville require pedestrians to press the button and then wait to cross. In addition, most of the signals require pedestrians to wait through an entire light cycle before getting a walk signal. Some light cycles are pretty quick, so the wait’s not long, but others, such as the one in the heart of Davis Square is a minute and a half long. So to cross some of the streets legally in Davis Square, one would have to wait that long in some cases.
If the pedestrian signals were part of the normal cycle (just as most green lights are for vehicles), more people would obey them. As silly as it sounds, most people don’t press the button and wait. They just look for a gap in traffic and go. In addition, if the walk signals were concurrently timed (meaning that pedestrians have a walk signal at the same time as parallel traffic has a green light), the amount of time required to wait to cross would be dramatically reduced.
The experience of Cambridge and other cities shows that when pedestrians feel fairly treated by the signals that they are more likely to obey them.
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Hi folks,
I don’t usually add in, but felt it necessary here. While I agree that many bikers and walkers do disregard the rules and that my heart goes crazy when I see someone almost get hit, those actions are MOST DEFINITELY not the actions of everybody!
I ride and walk to work, play, home, Boston because I can’t afford a car and I live in Winter Hill where bus service is much worse than in Union or Davis. I abide the laws — I stop at stop signs and red lights, I go the correct way up one-way streets, I pause for people in crosswalks…I also work with folks who also all ride (because cars are much too expensive on top of the crazy rents in Somerville) AND who follow rules.
Please don’t generalize and say that every person walking or riding disregards the rules. It’s just not the truth.
I also go to A LOT of BoA meetings, and I don’t believe that it’s only the “PDSers” that are pushing all the ridiculous items on the agenda — If you’ve gone to those meetings, you’ll see that many residents and businesses in Somerville push agenda items.
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Charlie and Jen:
Jen, I am not generalizing that all pedestrians/bikers have complete disregard for the state laws. Those who do not care are those that should be ticketed. I noticed a sign yesterday driving through Davis Square that appears at EVERY crosswalk stating that drivers who do not stop can be fined $100 (STATE LAW). Is this enforced?
Charlie, how are the crosswalks “unfair and inconvenient” to pedestrians? At least in Davis Square, they are EVERYWHERE. They are at the beginning, middle and end of the blocks. Would you prefer they be every ten feet? The crosswalk lights in Davis Square, in fact, are longer than any other area in Somerville (45 seconds). Waiting for a light takes patience. Drivers have to wait for lights. I do not see drivers rushing through red lights because it takes too long. It is common sense for people to pay attention to when and where they cross the street. If you cannot bother looking both ways and crossing at a crosswalk, a driver is not to blame if you (a general “you”) get hit.
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Janine,
You are absolutely correct that there are plenty of crosswalks. There may be a few locations where crosswalks should be added, but overall I think the crosswalk locations are just fine, particularly in Davis Square.
My main point about fairness is not about the crosswalk locations but about the signal timing. In general, pedestrians will not follow the signals when there are times when they can safely cross (i.e. parallel to traffic that has a green light or when there is a large gap in traffic) and the amount of time they have to wait to get a walk signal is long. Studies show that pedestrians will wait 30 seconds or so before thinking about crossing without a “walk” signal.
WalkBoston has an excellent presentation that includes some information about signal timing (along with other relevant info about what makes a good walking environment):
http://www.walkboston.org/documents/ped201.pdf
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Charlie:
I think the light timing is something that can be done. I will find out who at City Hall handles that. In fact, I was wondering how they are going to time all the new lights being placed on Somerville Ave which are a block apart. If they are not timed correctly, there is going to be one hell of a traffic jam on a daily basis on that street. Thanks!
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I have no problem with Janine’s proposal to increase tickets for crossing mid-block without going to a crosswalk. I have not experienced it as much of a problem in Davis Square because there are many crosswalks.
But I think a point about perspective has to be added. If you look at the traffic around Somerville and conclude that pedestrians and cyclists are the biggest problem you are completely blind to what is going on. The biggest problems exist with drivers violating laws. Even in the case of Davis Square there are way more drivers who violate the ability of a pedestrian’s safe passage at a crosswalk than pedestrian’s who violate the motorist’s ability. If you walk down any road in Somerville you will be encroached or blocked by cars who do not legally stop behind the crosswalk (I would bet the ratio of legal stops to illegal ones at stop signs in Somerville is about 1 to 20).
Enforcing driving laws for motorists should be the primary concern and beefing up enforcement for cycling and pedestrian violations would be fine as long as the bigger problems are addressed.
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Before we start talking about increasing enforcement, we ought to first ask whether the pedestrian crossings and traffic lights have been designed and located optimally. Good design should lend itself to better and safer roadways.
For example, I wonder if it’s time for new traffic studies in the business districts including Davis Square to evaluate the signal timing and crosswalk locations?
In Germany, they put the traffic lights on posts before the intersection, rather than hanging in the middle of the intersection like we do here in the US. Then again, they put their electrical cables under the ground, instead of up on poles. I think the German way helps keep the cars back further, allowing the pedestrian crossings to remain clear.
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Barry, how much money will that cost? At least the crosswalk infractions with drivers should be enforced. It is $100 fine and the city could have the money immediately.
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Janine, I’m not sure how much it would cost to perform new traffic studies or replace hanging traffic signals with posts. These are good questions to be asking.
According to this 6/25/09 Boston Globe article, the jaywalking fine is set to a negligible amount by state law:
If the jaywalking fine was $100 or more, there would be more incentive for the city to enforce it and for pedestrians to cross properly. In contrast, enforcing clear crosswalks could generate significant revenue with $50 fines for blocking a crosswalk. There’s also a $200 fine for blocking handicap ramps (curb cuts) which are usually at the sides of crosswalks. Link to the city’s Traffic & Parking page about Traffic Violation Information.
It’s important to keep in mind that no practical amount of fines and fees will ever solve the city’s structural deficit cemented by the squandered opportunity for development at Assembly Square. For more about this, I encourage you to read Bill Shelton’s excellent article from 6/17/09 Parking Extortion.
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I know the blocking handicap ramps violation is in full force and effect. I know many people who received a ticket. I mean I received a $100 ticket for parking within 10 feet of a fire hydrant, and still see cars doing it and no tickets. I think sometimes the ticket people pick and chose who they will ticket.
While in the UK, I noticed cameras on top of lights so if drivers ran yellow or red lights, they would be mailed a ticket. I have NO problem with putting cameras up for this purpose but can already see the emails coming in from those people who do have an issue with it. At these intersections, a police officer or ticket officer would have to be there all shift to watch if there was no camera there.
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Janine, what are “handicap ramps?” Do you mean curb cuts?
Thanks!
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O- I should have read the post above- curb cuts. So, Janine, how do you know this particular rule is being enforced in Somerville?
Thanks!
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Eila-I know people who call all the time to complain and the cops come out and write tickets. I live on a street with special handicap parking and the cops respond quickly to those calls.
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