Crosswalks

Too many Ocean City visitors are throwing caution to the wind and darting into traffic without looking. Even still, Ocean City Police Department Spokesman Mike Levy said you almost have to be hit by a vehicle to be charged with jaywalking in Maryland. The headlines are the same every year: “Pedestrian struck on Coastal Highway.” Some accidents are fatal and some aren't, but officials believe the majority could be prevented. According to OCPD statistics, there were 44 pedestrian accidents in Ocean City in 2012, two of which were fatal.

Too many Ocean City visitors are throwing caution to the wind and darting into traffic without looking. Even still, Ocean City Police Department Spokesman Mike Levy said you almost have to be hit by a vehicle to be charged with jaywalking in Maryland. The headlines are the same every year: “Pedestrian struck on Coastal Highway.” Some accidents are fatal and some aren't, but officials believe the majority could be prevented. According to OCPD statistics, there were 44 pedestrian accidents in Ocean City in 2012, two of which were fatal.

In his letter to the editor, Ed Warner suggests that drivers don't know the law when it comes to pedestrian crossings. Perhaps he's the one that needs to brush up on the laws. Drivers must stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Now then, what's so complicated about that? I'll throw in the concession "unless otherwise posted," as here in Monkton there is one sign that actually says "... for pedestrians at crosswalks," a departure from the norm. I've been a passenger in a vehicle where the driver feels it's "nice" to slow to a stop and wave a pedestrian across, the problem being the driver behind us didn't anticipate this unexpected act of kindness (and misinterpretation of the law)

After two pedestrians died and 13 were injured last summer on Ocean City streets, city officials and the State Highway Administration devised a campaign to get motorists and those on foot to be more aware of each other. The effort includes highly visible markings on crosswalks and signs directing pedestrians to them and retimed traffic signals to get vehicles to slow down. “Ocean City is one of Maryland's largest cities all summer, but every week there's turnover and a new population,” said Melinda Peters, SHA administrator.

In Las Vegas, gambling is the biggest game in town. But pedestrians don't get to play. A visitor to Sin City recently found that while all manner of vice might be winked at, jaywalking is not. On downtown Fremont Street, knowledgeable locals warned pedestrians about crossing against signals, telling them that police aggressively issue tickets for the offense. And wouldn't you know? Even in the rain, pedestrians in one of the least sober cities on the planet were actually waiting their turn.

After two pedestrians died and 13 were injured last summer on Ocean City streets, city officials and the State Highway Administration devised a campaign to get motorists and those on foot to be more aware of each other. The effort includes highly visible markings on crosswalks and signs directing pedestrians to them and retimed traffic signals to get vehicles to slow down. “Ocean City is one of Maryland's largest cities all summer, but every week there's turnover and a new population,” said Melinda Peters, SHA administrator.

Wasting money on decorative brick crosswalks is not going to solve the traffic/speed problem on Rolling Road ("Rolling Road work may get on a fast track," Catonsville Times, June 22). Baltimore County might as well not do anything and not waste taxpayer money. We don't need fancy, expensive crosswalks on dangerous roads. Instead, we need a traffic light at Newburg Avenue and South Rolling Road. Newburg Avenue is a cut-through street for many neighborhoods. This intersection is highly confusing for motorists, pedestrians, high school students and bikers.

I find Peter Bell's Jan. 27 letter to the editor, "Cars Shouldn't Stop for Pedestrians at Crosswalks," totally misguided and self serving. He argues that "if you're into carbon footprints, stopping and restarting a ton and a half of steel burns a lot more energy than if the pedestrian crosses after you've passed. " This twisted logic rewards the person who uses the most energy by giving the high energy user the right of way. For example, a right turning motorist fails to yield to a bicyclist, as happened to me, and when I asked her why she didn't yield, she said that cars always have the right of way over cyclists.

As a cyclist and pedestrian, I thought the article "For pedestrians, Md. is one of the most dangerous" (Jan. 24) was particularly appropriate. Recently, I was out bicycling in Columbia and was waiting on the sidewalk to cross at one of the marked pedestrian crosswalks on Great Star Road in the River Hill community. As a driver blew through the intersection, I pointed up at the sign for pedestrian crossing, to direct his attention to it. He actually did a U-turn and came back to yell at me. He claimed that Maryland law didn't require him to stop and that and I had no business pointing to the sign; he then did another U-turn to return to westbound Great Star and, as he passed me, he rolled down his window to yell some invective.

The state will triple its spending in established neighborhoods on streetscape improvements such as sidewalks, landscaping and crosswalks, Gov. Parris N. Glendening announced last night.Over the next six years, funding for the program will increase from $50 million to $150 million, Glendening told a gathering of local officials at the Maryland Municipal League's annual convention in Ocean City.The neighborhood conservation program is part of Glendening's Smart Growth effort to revitalize older communities and discourage suburban sprawl.

A pedestrian, who police say was jaywalking on Ritchie Highway in Brooklyn Park Thursday night, died after being struck by a pickup truck. Cheryl Lynn Knick, 57, of the 5100 block of Brookwood Road in the same neighborhood, died at Harbor Hospital soon after the 7:44 p.m. accident on the highway, south of the intersection with 11th Avenue West. The truck was traveling south on the highway. Its driver, a 53-year-old Gambrills man, swerved to avoid the victim, who was not crossing at a designated crosswalk and had failed to yield to southbound traffic, police said.

As traffic officer Bobby Brown began his weekday afternoon shift at Pratt and Light streets, he was quickly drawn into the dangerous dance involving pedestrians and motorists. A motorist didn't see three pedestrians as he made a sharp left-hand turn, but stopped just in time. Another driver skidded to avoid hitting a woman holding a baby who tried to dart across six lanes of traffic - against the light. Brown's whistle was put to the test, as one of Baltimore's most seasoned traffic officers worked hard to bring order to one of the city's busiest intersections.

Wasting money on decorative brick crosswalks is not going to solve the traffic/speed problem on Rolling Road ("Rolling Road work may get on a fast track," Catonsville Times, June 22). Baltimore County might as well not do anything and not waste taxpayer money. We don't need fancy, expensive crosswalks on dangerous roads. Instead, we need a traffic light at Newburg Avenue and South Rolling Road. Newburg Avenue is a cut-through street for many neighborhoods. This intersection is highly confusing for motorists, pedestrians, high school students and bikers.

I find Peter Bell's Jan. 27 letter to the editor, "Cars Shouldn't Stop for Pedestrians at Crosswalks," totally misguided and self serving. He argues that "if you're into carbon footprints, stopping and restarting a ton and a half of steel burns a lot more energy than if the pedestrian crosses after you've passed. " This twisted logic rewards the person who uses the most energy by giving the high energy user the right of way. For example, a right turning motorist fails to yield to a bicyclist, as happened to me, and when I asked her why she didn't yield, she said that cars always have the right of way over cyclists.

In his letter to the editor, Ed Warner suggests that drivers don't know the law when it comes to pedestrian crossings. Perhaps he's the one that needs to brush up on the laws. Drivers must stop for pedestrians in crosswalks. Now then, what's so complicated about that? I'll throw in the concession "unless otherwise posted," as here in Monkton there is one sign that actually says "... for pedestrians at crosswalks," a departure from the norm. I've been a passenger in a vehicle where the driver feels it's "nice" to slow to a stop and wave a pedestrian across, the problem being the driver behind us didn't anticipate this unexpected act of kindness (and misinterpretation of the law)

As a cyclist and pedestrian, I thought the article "For pedestrians, Md. is one of the most dangerous" (Jan. 24) was particularly appropriate. Recently, I was out bicycling in Columbia and was waiting on the sidewalk to cross at one of the marked pedestrian crosswalks on Great Star Road in the River Hill community. As a driver blew through the intersection, I pointed up at the sign for pedestrian crossing, to direct his attention to it. He actually did a U-turn and came back to yell at me. He claimed that Maryland law didn't require him to stop and that and I had no business pointing to the sign; he then did another U-turn to return to westbound Great Star and, as he passed me, he rolled down his window to yell some invective.

IAIN McINTOSH weighed in on last week's column, in which I recommended that bus drivers who wave cars around them stop this practice because it might add to an attitude of entitlement. "I would contend that precisely the opposite is the case. If school bus drivers were compelled to pull over and allow the rest of us to pass, there would be less incentive to break the law by passing when they stop to load/unload," he said. "I believe it is the law in California (and possibly elsewhere)

Nearly one-fourth of people killed in traffic accidents in the Baltimore are are pedestrians, a rate that is among the highest in the nation, according to a study released yesterday by a Washington-based transportation safety group. The report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project concluded that walking along roads in the United States is 36 times more dangerous than driving. During 1997 and 1998, the period covered by the study, 113 pedestrians in the Baltimore metropolitan area were struck by vehicles and killed.

In Las Vegas, gambling is the biggest game in town. But pedestrians don't get to play. A visitor to Sin City recently found that while all manner of vice might be winked at, jaywalking is not. On downtown Fremont Street, knowledgeable locals warned pedestrians about crossing against signals, telling them that police aggressively issue tickets for the offense. And wouldn't you know? Even in the rain, pedestrians in one of the least sober cities on the planet were actually waiting their turn.

A 49-year-old pedestrian has died of his injuries after being struck by a car in Pasadena Friday night, police said. Adam J. O'Conner was crossing Fort Smallwood Road in a dark area when the accident occurred shortly before 11 p.m., according to a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County police. Officers found O'Conner lying in the road with what appeared to be life-threatening injuries. He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Wearing dark clothing, he had been struck by a northbound vehicle that had remained at the scene.