Officials look for ways to keep pedestrians safe in downtown Statesville

A teacher and several students, paired up and tightly clasping hands, attempted to cross East Broad on a bustling afternoon recently in downtown Statesville.

Before the students attempted to cross, the teacher first walked out into the crosswalk and motioned for drivers to stop.

Even with hands held outward in a “stop” motion, several vehicles drove past her and through the crosswalk.

“It happens all the time,” said American Renaissance School Administrative Assistant Sandy Durham when asked about the frequency of such events.

Durham said that there was once a stop sign in the middle of the road that notified drivers of the crosswalk, but it was knocked down and rendered useless by a vehicle.

In an effort to protect its students, American Renaissance plans to purchase a handheld stop sign for teachers to use in the crosswalks, Durham said.

American Renaissance has several locations downtown, and students often have to cross streets during the school day.

According to state law, vehicles must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing the roadway within any marked or unmarked crosswalk, or near an intersection.

The NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation released a handbook on its website about pedestrian laws in the state. The handbook says that “pedestrians have the right of way at all intersections and driveways.”

However, pedestrians must act responsibly, using pedestrian signals where they are available.”

In 2012, the NCDOT began its Watch For Me NC campaign, aimed at reducing the number of pedestrian and bicyclist crashes with vehicles.

According to the campaign’s most recent study in 2015, 18 municipal police agencies and two university police departments were involved in actively enforcing pedestrian- and cyclist-related laws. Of those, 148 citations for failure to yield for pedestrians were issued, along with 355 warnings. In the same year, the study found that 32 citations were given to pedestrians who failed to use the crosswalk, while 725 warnings were given.  

Downtown Statesville Development Corporation Executive Director Marin Tomlin believes that the conflicts between downtown drivers and pedestrians have worsened over the years.

“It is a terrible problem that I have witnessed more and more recently,” she said.

She said that DSDC has been working on the issues for the past 10 years.

“We worked with the city to have the mid-block crosswalk signs installed, which were very helpful,” Tomlin said.  “(But) with the new streetscape design these no longer worked because of the three-lane configuration. “ 

The DOT then requested that the city install the tall yellow pedestrian crossing signs now found at each end of every crosswalk.

Tomlin added that the DSDC looks forward to working with the Statesville Police Department on the ongoing issue.

“(We want to) create a public awareness program to re-educate our citizens about this law,” Tomlin said.