D.C. Pedestrian Safety Strategy to Target High-Crash Intersections

· Add Rapid Flash Beacons that alert motorists to crosswalks and even set off brilliant lights in the pavement when a pedestrian enters the intersection.

The District's new strategy mirrors some of Schultheiss's recommendations. The city already is installing Rapid Flash Beacons, with the first put in last month along Brentwood Road NE. The light show must be activated by a pedestrian pushing a red button. It sets off orange strobe lights around the "Stop" pedestrian crossing signs posted on either side of the crosswalk. As the lights go on, a soft, female, digital voice advises walkers to "please wait for traffic to stop." Other written instructions urge pedestrians to "Thank the driver" as they pass.

On a recent afternoon, the new system was met with mixed results. Some pedestrians used it, others didn't seem to notice and some drivers paid no attention.

Tammy Brown didn't even see the new warning system as she navigated her Brentwood Road crossing, pushing her 3-month-old son Majayden in his stroller. "It's steady traffic going through here," she said later. "They need to put something here."

Randolph Brevard, 73, said it took him a couple of days to figure out the new signal system, which is on his daily route to the supermarket for orange juice and a newspaper. "Before they put it up there, the traffic wouldn't even stop. It was stand and wait."

A similar device is being installed on Howard Road SE at the Metro station, where five people were hit in a three-year period. This one will also have lights embedded in the street to illuminate the crosswalk.

Currently the intersection has just a yellow pylon to slow traffic -- similar to those at scores of other dangerous intersections across the city. They clearly haven't helped. The one on Howard stands battered and barely upright. In a 30-minute period one recent afternoon, the pylon was plowed down by a private bus and two Metrobuses in rapid succession.