Editorial: New crosswalk rules will need awareness, enforcement

From its beginning, a well-meaning 2010 law requiring motorists to stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks has been met with a mix of confusion, ignorance and indifference - all from motorists and pedestrians alike. The result has been that sections of roadway that are supposedly designated as safety zones for people on foot or bicycle have instead become something just short of no-man's lands where people who just want to cross a street take their lives in their hands every time they enter.

So now, at last, the Illinois Department of Transportation is preparing to release safety guidelines for these crossings.

"In response to seeing an increasing number of pedestrian-involved crashes, IDOT is seeking to identify effective strategies for improving pedestrian safety," IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo told our Marni Pyke for Pyke's Monday column, In Transit.

When they arrive, those guidelines won't be a moment too soon. Let's hope they also will be widely publicized and clearly displayed.

A year into the new law, one local police chief told the Daily Herald that authorities were reluctant to ticket motorists who failed to observe the law. It was tough to justify ticketing drivers for a law that was unfamiliar to many of them, he said. Last fall, Pyke reported an analysis of three years of IDOT records from 2012 to 2015 that found a cyclist or pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle once a week, on average. As part of her reporting, an unscientific test by Daily Herald staff members found widespread disregard for pedestrians at 49 crossings throughout the suburbs.

Crosswalk confusion is particularly evident in the history of rectangular rapid flashing beacons, lights installed at some crosswalks to try to attract drivers' attention. In December, the Federal Highway Administration withdrew approval for the beacon. In March, the FHA changed its mind - both decisions based not on safety criteria but patent issues.

Some critics say the flashers give pedestrians and cyclists a false sense of security. Some authorities say the beacons work in some situations - notably two-lane roads - and not so well in others.

What remains undeniably clear is that the current "strategies," to use the IDOT spokeswoman's term, are not making it safer to cross busy roads. For now, that's an important defensive observation for pedestrians and bicyclists to keep in mind before they prepare to cross a busy roadway.

As for the prospect the new IDOT guidelines will offer any further comfort or security, seven and a half years of experience makes it clear that they will have little hope of success unless they are broadly publicized, clearly posted, universally understood and reliably enforced.