It’s Safer if You Are Seen
No, we’re not talking about dressing up like a human traffic cone or hanging lights on yourself like a Christmas tree. We’re talking simple, practical solutions that the transportation department can implement on our streets in short order!
Add leading pedestrian intervals to give people walking (and biking) a head start to enter the intersection before the traffic light turns green
Make sure there’s street lighting, especially at intersections, and reorient existing street lights to illuminate not just the street, but also the sidewalk
Build curb extensions or raised crosswalks and rearrange the positioning of the stop line for vehicles further away from the crossing or to provide a space for people biking to be out front and visible
The Salt Lake City transportation department has been rolling out some of these changes already. The most prominent implementation of leading pedestrian/bike intervals is along the 9-Line on 900 South. However, you’ll notice that they are not implemented where the 9-Line crosses a state highway. Why? Because Utah state law prioritizes the movement of traffic for long distances. “A state highway shall: serve a statewide purpose by accommodating interstate movement of traffic or inter-region movement of traffic within the state; primarily move higher traffic volumes over longer distances…” (Utah Code 72-4-102.5). Therefore, UDOT wants to avoid adding a couple of seconds of “delay.” Does that make any sense now that we have freeways cutting through our cities that carry this traffic while many state highways have destinations with lots of foot traffic (the infamous ‘stroad’)?
Bike Utah worked on a bill last legislative session that would require leading pedestrian intervals in places with high pedestrian traffic statewide, but the idea of widespread implementation was met with push back. Also stay tuned for our friends at Bike Utah to bring forward more policy for the 2025 legislative session.
What can you do?
Find your state representatives and let them know you want safety prioritized over speed!
Let SLC Transportation (or your local transportation department) know you support these safety measures - thank them for what they’ve done, and provide them with constructive feedback if you’d like
Reach out to the mayor’s office or your councilmember
Don’t forget! The most common feedback to officials is negative, so when you see something you like, it’s a good idea to let them know and balance out the negativity!
Slow design speed with raised crosswalks, curb extensions, and well placed lighting - the new roundabout at 1000 West and 700 South is a shining example (photo from slc.gov).
