StreetFilm: Raising the Walk

From the StreetFilms animation division, which brought you the chicane, comes another instant classic, this one illustrating the benefits of the raised crosswalk — basically a wide speed hump with a crosswalk on top.

Raised crosswalks have been recommended for areas including Hell’s Kitchen and the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, where speeding traffic and turn conflicts make for particularly dangerous conditions.

Warning: Once you watch this, your brain is likely to queue the "Frogger" theme when crossing the street. 

Video produced by Elizabeth Press

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Streetfilm: The Diverter

|
 From Streetfilms’ animation division comes the third installment of traffic-calming shorts from Elizabeth Press. First she brought you chicanes, then the raised crosswalk. Now comes the diverter, which Elizabeth explains like so: Diagonal diverters, half closures, entrance barriers, median barriers, semi-diverters; traffic calming techniques come in all shapes and sizes. They can help create more […]

Streetfilm: Barnes Dance!

|
Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson filmed the only place that we know of in Manhattan where pedestrians can go out and do the Barnes Dance, also known as the Pedestrian Scramble, at the intersection of 17th Street & Broadway. There you’ll find red lights in all directions for about 17 seconds, allowing pedestrians an exclusive phase in […]

Streetfilms: Introducing the Pedestrian Peek-a-Boo

|
This excellent Streetfilm from Robin Urban Smith and Clarence Eckerson is another in a series of vids on cheap and effective streetscape alterations that improve safety for all users. Writes Robin:  Daylighting is a simple pedestrian safety measure achieved by removing parking spaces adjacent to curbs around an intersection, increasing visibility for pedestrians and drivers […]

StreetFilm: The Street Memorial Project

|
 Nick Whitaker’s latest effort for StreetFilms is about the Street Memorial Project, a joint effort from Visual Resistance, Transportation Alternatives, and Time’s Up! which was established to honor pedestrians killed on NYC streets. The project is an outgrowth of the Ghost Bike movement. A plaque is usually placed at the site indicating the date of […]

Streetfilm: A Pedestrian Paradise in Melbourne

|
Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson recently made the journey to Melbourne, Australia, where he found a "new world city" redesigned for people-oriented development and mobility. Writes Clarence: Melbourne is simply wonderful. You can get lost in the nooks and crannies that permeate the city. As you walk you feel like free-flowing air with no impediments to your […]

Traffic Calming Animation of the Day: The Chicane

|
In the shortest, sweetest Streetfilm ever, a 24-second stop-motion animation, Elizabeth Press perfectly illustrates a chicane which is a sequence of bump-outs that force drivers to slow down and drive a more circuitous route along a straight, wide street. An added side benefit, chicanes also create more sidewalk space to be used for benches, tables, […]