A study finds that most drivers disregard for the rights of pedestrians to cross the road. Visual cues, however, provided by street design, greatly increase the likelihood that drivers will yield.
"Most drivers tracked in a new Chicago-area survey failed to comply with a state law requiring them to stop for pedestrians, a finding that the research's backers attribute to inadequate police enforcement and education on traffic-safety laws," reports John Hilkevitch.
The study, conducted by the Active Transportation Alliance at 52 locations in Chicago, also found that streets designed to improve pedestrian safety greatly increases the safe practice of drivers.
For sake of comparison, "61 percent of motorists did stop for pedestrians at painted crosswalks that also had other safety features, including in-road "stop for pedestrians'' signs, brick or stone crosswalks, raised crosswalks or flashing beacons"
However, "compliance…was only about 18 percent on average when the pedestrians attempted to cross a street in a traditional painted crosswalk," and "the compliance rate plummeted to almost 5 percent at unmarked crosswalks."
FULL STORY: Many drivers ignoring crosswalk law: study
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