If you were in the downtown Greeneville area this morning and noticed a larger than normal presence of law enforcement officers on the street corners, it was all a part of the Crosswalk Talk program initiated by the Tennessee Highway Safety Office.
Armando Fontes says the Tennessee Highway Safety Office was helping the Greeneville Police Department, along with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and Walter State Police conduct pedestrian surveys.
He told Radio Greeneville News “this basically stems from a new program that the Highway Safety Office has started called Crosswalk Talk. And the purpose of this is to get the perspective from the pedestrians that are using crosswalks. And we also look for people that are not using crosswalks properly. We have a few different questions that we ask them to get their perspective and their input of how it could make things better for them such as, are there issues with that crosswalk or that intersection? We do a little bit of a side assessment and look at the area. Do they have everything clearly marked, do they have audio and visual indicators, are the lights working properly? And so that way if we notice something that may be not working correctly, then we can pass that information on to the proper agencies. This is a really good opportunity for us to help remind people of the importance of using the crosswalks and approach them in a friendly manner and explain to them the importance of doing that to reduce fatalities concerning pedestrians.”
In response to a question if we tend to take those white lines located in the middle of the street for granted sometimes, Fontes responded “I think we all do. It’s like we’re on a mission to get somewhere, and that’s our main goal is to try to get there as quickly as we can or we’re running late and to us thirty seconds, it seems like an eternity sometimes. But the reality is it’s just a few seconds. And so these white lines are a good, strong, visible barrier for vehicles to stop at and to see. And it’s also gives good clear guidance for people to be able to cross safely.”
As for the relatively new signal crossings they have been installed downtown , he says “It is very nice and this intersection right here (Main and Depot at the Courthouse), appears to be very safe, very well lit, very, very pedestrian friendly. And, you know, I wish we could have every intersection like this. But, you know, what it comes down to at the end of the day if people will, if they’re the ones that are walking and they’re the pedestrians, if they would follow the laws of the land, and slow down just a little bit, what’s a minute or two, it’s your life. If they would realize the importance of utilizing these safe crosswalks and then motorists are paying attention, then we would have a lot less fatalities here on Tennessee roadways.”
As for what other type of information they had been getting from pedestrians he said “the good thing that we’re learning today is we ask the people what do you think is the biggest issue or the largest problem that you’re seeing? And we’ve had one gentleman talk about the use of e-bikes and skateboards and how they’ll just run intersections and run lights. And he’s point on. We do see that quite often. We have officers spread out at different intersections that are kind of doing the same thing that we’re doing right here at this intersection. And more or less talking to some great citizens and great people and getting their feedback.”
