 |
| Courtesy crosswalk sign |
Small town traffic
As we drove home at 6:30 p.m. in the dusk, we were hard-pressed to see people crossing at the new crosswalks. It is very dark. It's a problem with this time of year.
There is some controversy around the crosswalks, as they are 'courtesy' crosswalks. They have changes planned, thankfully. They've repainted the crosswalks, but just on one side. They are reducing the crosswalks, but making them mandatory.
Devoy, who writes for our local small paper,
writes that they have recommended two solar-powered automated pedestrian crossing systems along Gore St. They cost $29,000 each. They are considering it as part of the 2018 budget. This is a good thing. It's a brilliant idea! ('Scuse the pun!) Sadly, people are hard to spot, with cars parked on corners outside legal parking. This is something they need to monitor, as well.
The camera automatically lightens the photo, but you see where they aren't in our headlights.
They are pretty dark, all things considered. You cannot see people at the left side.
Perth Crosswalks from
Jennifer Jilks on
Vimeo.
Then there is this intersection.
Gore St & North where we nearly witnessed an accident. It is a two-way stop. The car on the right doesn't have a stop sign, they have the right of way. We beat the truck to the stop sign but we let a pedestrian cross, then the truck began to move. The dark-coloured car had to put on its brakes.
I'm thinking this should be a 4-way stop to prevent many incidents.
It's pretty scary out there. We could use a ring road, but that's big bucks for a small town.
Education would be a good idea, but people are so distracted. There were two drivers in the truck, but pretty scary.
