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Volume 115, Number 61 - Tuesday, December 8, 1998


New traffic lights signal big problem
by John Friedlander

You can tell a lot about a place by walking around downtown.

Lately when I walk around Middletown I feel like I'm wearing a bullseye target and my hide is worth two points to every motorist kept waiting by my insolent use of a crosswalk.

You've probably already seen or read of Middletown's spiffy new traffic and crosswalk lights -- there are eighteen of them on High Street, Main Street and Dekoven Drive between Grand Street and Crescent Street. If you haven't seen them, come downtown and walk around -- very cautiously.

The new lights themselves are nice. The ornamental black light poles on Main street look much better than the old aluminum ones, and there are fewer of them per intersection, so the streetscape looks less cluttered. The red and amber lights also use light emitting diodes (LEDs) which produce brighter light and last longer, so they'll be easier to see and cost less to maintain.

The problem is that the system that manages the new lights is currently programmed to allow people on foot to cross the street while cars move the same direction. So if the walk light has flashed on and you're crossing Main at Washington, cars with green lights turning onto Main from Washington will cross your path. Traffic engineers call this a "concurrent walk system."

This is a change from the old "exclusive walk system," where all motor traffic stopped for crossing pedestrians.

The concurrent walk system may work for places like New York City, but it is not appropriate for Middletown, and it needs to change before someone gets seriously injured or killed.

The justification I've heard for the new system is threefold.

  • First, the system should help smooth traffic and reduce emissions by synchronizing green lights for Main Street traffic and allowing traffic to be managed more flexibly during special events or emergency situations. This is a worthy goal.

  • Second, the system allows people on foot more crossing opportunities because it allows crossing on every light cycle. But walkers are generally a patient lot, willing to wait a few minutes to cross in safety, rather than risk a confrontation with a car. This "benefit" reminds me of the story about the salesman trying to sell iceboxes to Eskimos.

  • Third, the system will supposedly help reduce air pollution by not keeping cars idling while people cross the street. I'm all for reducing air pollution, but putting pedestrians' lives at risk is not an acceptable tradeoff. Increasing the availability of mass transportation and public bike racks so people would walk or bike more and drive less would help cut down on air pollution, and have many other benefits as well.

    City Attorney Timothy Lynch was quoted in last Friday's Middletown Press saying that it is "black letter law" that "motor vehicles have to yield to pedestrians, even if they're jaywalking." With all due respect, Lynch needs to get out of the office and walk around downtown a little more. Connecticut motorists are among the rudest I've seen anywhere. What the law says and what drivers actually do are two entirely different things -- just ask any crossing guard, or anyone who walks anywhere in Middletown.

    In the same article Mayor Thornton was quoted as saying, "In the long run the new system will educate people to be better drivers, because in the past drivers didn't have to look out. Now they do." Hey, if there was ever a group of drivers that need more education, it's us. Far too many of us are rude, arrogant, inconsiderate and downright menacing. But city streets aren't driver education practice runs where you're given a retest if you fail. They are the places our citizens conduct their lives for real. In the short run, someone will get killed by a driver who didn't see a pedestrian wearing dark clothing, under foggy or dark conditions that made everything less visible.

    I spoke at length with the City's engineer in charge of installing and configuring the new light system. He made clear to me that the installation isn't finished yet, and it will take another few weeks before the bugs are worked out. But it was also clear that the concurrent walk system is considered a prime feature, and is unlikely to change.

    This is not good news for citizens who regularly walk Main Street, and should be reconsidered.

    While the new system is being installed and adjusted, we'd better watch ourselves carefully as we walk and drive downtown. But the system needs to better meet the needs of the people most vulnerable to the system's weaknesses: pedestrians -- specifically the large elderly population walking between Sbona Towers and Pelton's. It shouldn't take a serious injury, a death or a lawsuit to make this point. If you agree, write a quick note to the Mayor and the Chief of Police and let them both know how you feel. Here are the addresses:

  • Mayor Domenique Thornton, City Hall, Middletown, CT 06457
  • Chief of Police J. Edward Brymer, 66 Church Street, Middletown, CT 06457.

    The bottom line is that there are too many drivers in too much of a hurry, talking on too many cell phones, paying too little attention to their surroundings. Middletown citizens who choose to walk their daily chores shouldn't be put in danger by new city fixtures and systems. Air quality improvements resulting from smoother traffic flow and reduced idling time at intersections won't amount to a pile of broken headlight glass to the family of a person killed in a crosswalk accident, or to the decision-makers responsible for the system that should help prevent this tragedy.

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