Eddie:
I can't fault you for wanting to do something, but I think your efforts would be better spent in other directions.
From my recent observations, it seems that there's a significant fraction of the driving population that doesn't care about either the speed limit signs or the cops who are (very) occasionally found enforcing them. They'll drive at whatever speed they think is within their capabilities. Combine that with the feeling of "invincibility" that comes from being surrounded by a steel safety cage, and I'll get to my point: there are enough bad and careless drivers around that no amount of regulation will prevent all deaths...especially pedestrian ones.
If you reduce a speed limit without changing the road, that will have no effect on the above drivers, nor on those like the girl who hit the two pedestrians last week, who was apparently "distracted" by something (likely electronic??) I don't think it's wise to make a change that will make pedestrians be *less* cautious than they already are by making the road seem safer (as in, expecting slower traffic).
So, in short: you can make stricter rules for cars, but without strict enforcement, the rules tend to have the opposite effect. Regulation without enforcement breeds disrespect for the rules.
So?
I'll agree that pedestrian lights would be good. Do what you can to get them installed at this intersection. Reducing speed limits, though? I don't think it makes a lick of positive difference unless the CPS will be posting a radar gun there a lot more often than they can afford to.
Or even better.... Find a picture of a mangled pedestrian's body and post it at the entrance to the crosswalk. Maybe people would start to pay attention to where they're walking if they had a visual reminder of what will happen to them, whether they're technically in the "right" or not.
|