Los Angeles families took safety into their own hands by painting cross walks. Now, the city is sending crews to remove them.
Work crews remove crosswalks painted by neighbors in West LA
The guy behind this: https://substack.com/home/post/p-169421684
Someone driving by or walking across might not even know that those crosswalks weren’t painted by the city.
Oh no, people might think they are real and look out for pedestrians!
I got a ticket for parking next to a red curb after the resident painted it. Had to go down to the city and get confirmation it was fake to get the ticket dismissed.
Not really angry about that one. Taught me good info about the government back then.
Or pedestrians might think they are real and get run over because they aren't up to proper spec for a crossing.
This happens all the time in cities. The good cities take it as prompting to perform a traffic study and determine whether a crosswalk would be safe there, then implement one if possible. This happens in Seattle sometimes.
Drivers are required to stop for pedestrians when crossing the street at marked crosswalks and at intersections as well. That’s right it’s perfectly legal to cross the street at an intersection even without the aid of crosswalk striping on the pavement.
https://sdotblog.seattle.gov/2014/09/12/crosswalk-law-1-0/
Not like anybody stops for pedestrians, but they're supposed to at least.
You might be talking about the case in Seattle where some people argued that the pride flag crosswalks in Capitol Hill weren't up to code.
No I'm talking about things that happen in the city I live in
Oh hey I used to live near Sawtelle. Honestly the city department there is fucking terrible.
I parked there once using street parking when I was first looking for apartments and I got ticketed for being in a no parking zone when there wasn't a sign or a red line saying no parking.
Went to the city's office and despite photo evidence we still got denied an appeal.
I think he might have had better success if he painted the crosswalks to the same specifications as the ones the city uses.
If it blends in with all the other crosswalks, nobody will likely notice, at least until it gets repaved and the lack of documentation would be written off as some sort of administrative error.
Anybody know where an individual (as opposed to a road construction company) can source the correct type of road-marking paint and/or thermoplastic?
Asking for a friend.
the city is sending crews to remove them.
The city seems to be overreacting. It's just a crosswalk, there's no reason to remove the families who painted them. Sheesh
Does painting a crosswalk really increase safety? I feel like the type of person not pay attention and run someone over is the type of person to not care if there's a crosswalk, not pay attention, and run someone over.
I don't understand why you would expect it not to increase safety.
It gives a visual cue to drivers that it is more likely someone is intending to cross at this location.
Any time I see an intersection I assume there might be people. Downtown where I’m at there’s rarely crosswalks at intersections unless it’s a major through road.
It's probably incremental but, IMO, a crosswalk does imply a certain amount of pedestrian traffic that might encourage a smidge of extra attention and double checking from some drivers, vs a location that gives the appearance of having very infrequent pedestrian crossingsmay be far less frequent. That not to say that complacency is any kind of excuse. But it is how people are on average.
Yeah. Our brains are conditioned to assume people are more likely to be in a crosswalk. It's also why I drive slowly past long rows of parked cars. I've been conditioned to assume a kid is going to jump out.
Most folks are not conditioned to be thoughtful.
On a large scale I have no idea but it does for me when I’m driving.
A crosswalk at an intersection, especially an unmetered one, serves as a warning that there’s enough regular pedestrian traffic or a risk that dictated it was needed.
Helps me, personally, to be extra aware for crossers.
Isn't the government "we the people"? So you know the government DID paint them. Fuck those guys, they just mad because the contractor that paid them off didn't get their cut and now they are.
If the "government" can't be bothered to do the job they were elected to do the people will have to step in.
But the city said they never received a request for crosswalks in that area
Assuming this is truthful, at least submit the request first. Maybe save yourself a little work.