City to Install Pedestrian Crossing Alert Device at Upper Main Street Crosswalk
WOONSOCKET, RI: The City is readying to install a standing flashing light device designed to alert upper Main Street drivers to slow, yield and stop in advance of a crosswalk located directly in front of Hanora Lippitt Manor, 1 Main Street.
The four foot tall, stationary unit will be installed during a press briefing scheduled at the site at 10:00AM on Wednesday, August 29, 2018. Its top is flanked with a round, yellow flashing light which provides motorists with a visual reminder to decelerate when traveling along the highly active portion of the City’s central artery.
«Our goal is to educate drivers on their responsibilities under the law and ensure safe road crossings for our pedestrians,» said Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt. «The flashing light, color and message are clear to both drivers and pedestrians and give both warning of this area of both heavy traffic as well as pedestrian activity.»
Approved by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the design of the traffic alert device aims to increase driver awareness of the presence of pedestrians. The signal provides a visual reminder of a driver’s legal obligation to slow and stop to allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway.
«It is a pedestrian’s natural expectation to safely navigate City streets with ease,» said Police Chief Thomas F. Oates, III. «Keeping all pedestrians safe on City streets is everyone’s responsibility. A pedestrian who is standing in a crosswalk waiting to cross the road has the legal right-of-way. This crossing unit will visually reinforce and remind drivers of the law.»
Mayor Baldelli added, «The installation of this new unit signifies the City’s firm commitment to keeping our streets pedestrian friendly.»
Earlier in 2018, the City installed pedestrian crossing signals or beacons that utilize a series of high-intensity, rapidly flashing amber-colored LED lights by the marked crosswalks for the Stadium Theatre on Main Street and J.F. Kennedy Manor on Clinton Street. The Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) feature an affixed panel that displays the lights in a rapidly flashing horizontal series simultaneously across its left and
right sides and includes a compact solar panel to power the units’ self contained LED lights