Pedestrian Summer Safety Tips Via East Haven PD

From East Haven PD: Warm weather is upon us! And with warm weather, comes an increase in pedestrian traffic all throughout town. Our largest area for pedestrian traffic is our beach area (Cosey Beach Avenue) but Main Street and the surrounding side streets in the area are flooded with bicycle and pedestrian traffic as well. As always, we try to keep our residents safe and up to date with the latest public safety tips. To that end, we wanted to share the following with everyone in hopes of minimizing any potential tragedies this summer.

Be Safe

• Always walk on the sidewalk; if there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic and as far from the roadway as you can.
• Look for cars in all directions – including those turning – before crossing the street. Never assume a driver sees you or will stop. Make eye contact with drivers before crossing to make sure they see you.
• Use crosswalks whenever possible. Cross the street where you have the best view of traffic. Don’t cross mid-block or diagonally. If there’s no crosswalk nearby, cross in a well-lit area where you have the best view of traffic. Look left, right, and left again.
• No crosswalk? Yield to traffic. Pedestrians walking outside of crosswalks must yield to all other traffic.
• Be careful crossing multiple lanes of traffic. Make sure each lane of traffic is clear before you cross. At bus stops, cross behind the bus or at the nearest crosswalk.
• Obey all pedestrian traffic signals. Be predictable to drivers and follow the rules of the road.

Be Visible

• Enhance your visibility at night. Walk in well-lit areas, carry a flashlight or wear something reflective, such as stickers or armbands, to be more visible.
• Stand clear of parked cars, buses, hedges, and other obstacles before crossing the street.

Be Aware

• Avoid distraction. Texting or talking on cell phones or wearing earphones when crossing streets diminishes the ability of your two key senses – hearing and seeing – that are used to detect and avoid cars. So particularly when crossing streets, put down the phone and turn of the music for a few seconds.
• Watch for cars backing up in parking lots and driveways. Brake lights can mean that a car is about to back up.
• On a sharp corner with limited visibility (a blind curve) or a steep hill, it's safer to walk along the outer corner rather than to stay in the inner corner, even though this is opposite of the rule to face traffic when walking. In the inner corner, you won't be able to see upcoming traffic and it won't see you. Cross the road at a safe distance from the curve, walk along the outer curve, and cross back again at a safe distance. You should be extra careful during this segment, because drivers may not expect pedestrians on the right side of the road.

Runners are pedestrians too. Like walkers, runners should run against traffic, cross at crosswalks whenever possible, and obey crosswalk signals. Wear bright, reflective clothes so drivers can see you.