Crossing Signals Are Sometimes Tight on Time

Over lunch recently, an associate commented that she had barely made it across a Dunedin street in the time allotted by the crossing signal near the Pinellas Trail, where many people in the county walk regularly.  A generally fit and healthy woman, she was walking ever-so-slightly more slowly than usual to avoid re injuring a twisted knee, but the experience left her wondering how some of the older people who regularly use the trail manage the crossing.

Fortunately, traffic on Dunedin’s winding and narrow Main Street is slow, due to the numerous signalized crosswalks and driver expectation that this is a high pedestrian area.  However, such is not the case throughout the Sunshine State, including much of the Tampa Bay area.  We live in the second most deadly region of the country for pedestrians.  One reason is that so many of the roads, unlike Dunedin’s Main Street, are wide, multilane arterial highways, which take some time to cross.  Even in marked and signalized crosswalks, not everyone is able to complete the crossing in the time the signal allows.

This is only one of many causes of pedestrian injury accidents, but one that should be quite simple to remedy: reset the signals to allow an extra ten seconds or so of crossing time.  Drivers may grumble, but reducing pedestrian accident injuries should take precedence over driver impatience. And drivers need to be educated that they must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, regardless of the signal.

Hear what Clearwater pedestrian attorney Jim Dodson has to say about pedestrians not having time to cross Florida streets HERE.

We help people every day who have been injured while walking in Dunedin, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Tampa, Bradenton and other surrounding Florida areas. Contact us at 1-888-340-0840 for a free case consultation.