Crosswalk paint allowed

A recent op ed in the Washington Post tells us there’s a new rule for painting crosswalks! SCDOT often cites the MUTCD manual, which governs intersection signage and crosswalk design among other bits, and it’s important to know this manual received a recent update! Thanks to significant federal advocacy, crosswalk paint is now considered a permitted safety treatment that’s even fundable with federal safety money. Need further proof to try this with your local planners? Just tell them this: “Bloomberg Philanthropies partnered with Sam Schwartz Consulting and Street Plans to produce a study of 17 past arts-driven projects as well as five AAI grantee projects. That found a 50 percent reduction in crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists and a 27 percent increase in drivers yielding to pedestrians with the right of way.”

The new manual even provides guidance on how and where to apply painted crosswalks. Try talking about these with your town planner, and let us know about it! Of course, collaboration will be necessary between local authorities and SCDOT, and that’s key to the success of anything new. There’s no time like the present to try new safety mitigations in South Carolina, home to America’s highest traffic fatality rate.