MoDOT interested in safer pedestrian crossings

MoDOT's Express Lane for January 2006 includes this article on efforts to improve pedestrian safety:

As traffic volumes increase on Missouri roadways, MoDOT continues to look for new ways to make it safer for pedestrians to cross them.

From 2002 to 2004, 250 pedestrians were killed and more than 1,000 seriously injured in Missouri traffic crashes. Countdown indications and “talking” crosswalks are two ways Missouri crosswalks are becoming safer across the state.

The “talking” crosswalks are the newest technology advancement in crosswalk safety. The signal has a locator tone all the time so a vision-impaired person can find the crosswalk button. After the button is pushed, a different tone tells the pedestrian when it’s okay to cross. These new signals cost about $2,000 each. . . .

Countdown indications have a visual number that counts down, telling the pedestrian how much time is left to cross the street. The countdown indications can be found all over the state.

Read the rest of the article on MoDOT's web site.