Wiki Wednesday: Daylighting, AKA the Pedestrian Peek-A-Boo

Robin Urban Smith’s "Daylighting" Streetfilm is on the fast track to blockbuster status, with more than 2,500 views since Monday. She follows up with a StreetsWiki entry about this simple, effective safety measure:

daylighting.jpg

Visibility and eye contact are essential to avoiding conflict at a
crossing, but visual communication between different street users is
greatly impaired when parked cars crowd an intersection (see diagrams
above).

Daylighting clears away this visual obstacle and improves
safety, especially for children, who have difficulty seeing and being
seen at intersections. Daylighting also shortens the crossing distance
at intersections, which reduces pedestrians’ exposure to traffic. For
seniors and other street users with longer crossing times, this is
particularly important.

This strikes me as a good opportunity to put StreetsWiki’s collaborative power to use. When Robin posted the film, we heard from readers about variations on daylighting — in the UK and in Queens. It would be great to work that information into this entry and start building a portfolio showing how different cities have implemented the technique.

In related news, on top of Clarence’s preferred term, "Pedestrian Peek-a-Boo," we now have a bunch of alternate names for daylighting, including: pedestrian 20/20, exposed crosswalk, curb-sighting, wide-angling, and ped surprise. Got a favorite yet?

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Rodriguez Bill Would Mandate Daylighting at 25 Intersections Per Year

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City Council transportation chair Ydanis Rodriguez introduced legislation today intended to improve pedestrian safety along bus routes and at intersections with high crash rates. Intro 912 would require DOT to daylight the five “most dangerous intersections” in each borough annually, as determined by the number of fatalities and injuries. Curb extensions would be installed to […]

How Much Does DOT Use Daylighting to Reduce Dangerous Turns?

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Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg told the City Council there’s only so much DOT can do to prevent drivers from hitting people while turning, but there’s a relatively simple safety measure the agency could put to widespread use: keeping parked cars away from intersections. Last week, Kate Hinds at WNYC reported on the problem of motorists fatally striking people while turning left. According to crash data compiled […]

Streetfilms: Introducing the Pedestrian Peek-a-Boo

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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 […]