One week in, Davidson has issued no tickets in jaywalking campaign (WFAE)
How can a small town make its streets safer for pedestrians? Davidson is trying out a few strategies, including new crosswalks, pedestrian signals, and starting this week, tickets for jaywalkers.
Meg Fencil, with the urban advocacy group Sustain Charlotte, said just because a busy street has crosswalks doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe for pedestrians — if it’s still built primarily for cars.
“Many of our streets are kind of like futons. A futon is trying to be both a bed and couch, and it’s not really great at either,” she said.
She thought it will be important to see if poorer or minority residents are ticketed more than others, but that Davidson is doing a good job by taking the issue seriously.
“It’s encouraging to see Davidson is taking a comprehensive approach to traffic safety, and it sounds like they’re trying to be really intentional and ensure that both drivers and pedestrians are behaving as safely as possible,” Fencil said.