SGF Yields: Enforcement program led to big gains in pedestrian safety, but drivers went right back to normal once enforcement stopped | KY3

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

[Springfield] city kicked off its “SGF Yields” initiative in 2017.

“Since 2017, our engineering team has been conducting compliance studies where we stage as pedestrians crossing the road, and measure how many people yield versus not yield,” said Mandy Buettgen-Quinn, a Traffic Safety Specialist for the City of Springfield.

Those efforts found drivers only yielded to pedestrians 25% of the time. Some intersections, like Grant and Calhoun, were far worse. Buettgen-Quinn said drivers only yielded to pedestrians about 4% of the time at that intersection.

“That’s when we started to implement some engineering measures there and we deployed the rectangular rapid flashing beacons,” Buettgen-Quinn described. “Those pedestrian beacons allow students to activate the flash, and then drivers have a notice to stop even at higher speeds. At those locations we’re now measuring 80% or more. So that is really exciting.” . . .

The campaign . . . added weekly crosswalk enforcement at the start of 2021.

The crosswalk checks ended last fall, and now the city says the number of yielding drivers has gone down once again. . . .

Buettgen-Quinn said driver compliance at crosswalks reached 63% after enforcement checks took place, but now they have dipped back down again. The city reported 48% compliance in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 47% compliance in the first quarter of 2022.

Link: 

SGF Yields: Enforcement program led to big gains in pedestrian safety, but drivers went right back to normal once enforcement stopped | KY3

MoBikeFed comment: Springfield is really doing some pioneering work in improving pedestrian safety at crosswalks.

Mandy Buettgen-Quinn is one of our keynote speakers at the 2022 Missouri Active Transportation Summit. She will be talking about SPG Yields.

Join us August 12th in Jefferson City - or virtually - for the 2022 Summit:

mobikefed.org/2022MissouriActiveTransportationSummit