STI launches flag crossing project

SANDPOINT — Pedestrians will use flags to stop cars at a local crosswalk beginning today, resurrecting an idea that failed here in the past.

After more than a year of investigating crosswalk safety, the Sandpoint Transition Initiative will launch the crossing flags project at 10 a.m. today at the Fifth Street and Poplar Avenue crosswalk.

The project uses orange, reflective flags stored in containers at both sides of Fifth Avenue that pedestrians, who are waiting to cross, will grab and wave at motorists in an effort to stop traffic.

Once a pedestrian crosses the street, the flag is dropped into the container on the other side of the crosswalk and traffic flow resumes.

It is not a new idea.

“Sandpoint has tried it before and we did not have great success with it,” Kody Van Dyk, public works director, said. “The flags disappeared quickly and it just died out.”

If it seems like a no-brainer that the flags will be stolen or destroyed, it is, said Trina Isaacs, the administrative assistant to the public works director in Hailey.

Hailey adopted a flag project several years ago, Isaacs said, and the program is alive and healthy.

“They are effective,” Isaacs said.

But, she said, the flags only enhance pedestrian safety if they are properly used.

Not everyone uses the flags properly, however, she said, and individual flags are transitory.

“They get stolen all the time,” she said. “They get destroyed in the wind and the weather.”

Hailey recently ordered 300 flags as part of an annual renewal, she said.

Rae Charlton of the STI Mobility Committee, which is behind the crossing flags project, hopes Sandpoint’s crossing flags will not wander off.

“Our plan is to have so many on hand that we can restock them as necessary,” Charlton said.

She watched the flags in action in Kirkland, Wash., the first city in the nation to use the idea, she said.

Kirkland first adopted flags at a critical intersection, she said, and the city has since expanded the project.

“Now they have them at many locations,” she said.

Using donations to fund the flags that cost $2.05 apiece, the STI committee purchased 100 of the orange flags, and members added reflective tape for enhanced night visibility.

In Hailey, a city bisected by a major north-south highway that doubles as the city’s main drag, the flags are complemented with signage.

Signs along the corridor remind motorists to stop at crosswalks and notify drivers of hefty fines for not braking.

One concern that has arisen, is that the flags seem to provide false security to pedestrians.

“I see pedestrians becoming more brazen,” she said. “They don’t use common sense.”

The flags are only meant to attract the attention of drivers, she said. Pedestrians should not proceed until traffic has stopped.

In some cases, pedestrians grab a flag and wave it while walking into traffic, she said.

The behavior has caused more than one fender bender there, she said.

Another concern is for drivers who are not accustomed to the city ordinance.

“I recently saw a tractor truck run into someone else who had stopped at a crosswalk,” she said.

Charlton, an avid walker, understands the concerns and hopes pedestrians at the Fifth Avenue and Poplar Street crosswalk will use the flags with prudence.

“They are not a guarantee that you will be safe,” she said. “It’s an added visual component for safe crossing. Our hope is that it makes us much more visible.”

Sandpoint Public Works has several additional improvements planned for the crosswalk including a pedestrian island and thermal plastic markings for the road that last longer than paint, Van Dyk said.