We at Mission Pedestrian believe that the ability to cross the street safely is a basic human right. But it is a right that we often have to stand up for, as Mission Pedestrian members learned in its fight to reinstate crosswalks on Mission Street.

By 1997, Caltrans had let the crosswalks almost completely fade away on Mission Street, as seen here.

Caltrans repainted the crosswalks on Mission Street in response to public pressure. Mission Pedestrian won an award from the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission for its work on getting the crosswalks repainted.

Getting crosswalks stripes repainted was a major victory on Mission Street. However, we'd like to see more emphasis put on designing safer pedestrian crosswalks throughout the city.

One way to make crosswalks more more visible to drivers and safer for pedestrians is to install lighted overhead signs which depict a pedestrian crossing the street, as in this example from Germany.

Another way to make crossing a street safer is to use flashing lights ("Flight Lights") embedded in the pavement at a crosswalk. The lights start to flash automatically when a pedestrian approaches. This one is on Bay Street in Santa Cruz.

Do Something:
E-mail us a description and/or photo of a unique crosswalk design