By Melissa Lattman

St. Pete Beach- An electronic message board reminds motorists to stop for those trying to cross the street by the Sweetbay Supermarket on Blind Pass Road. The crosswalk is where a pedestrian was hit Feb. 22. Resident James Roberts is still in serious condition at Bayfront Medical Center. The crash remains under investigation. The police are waiting on lab results said Officer Robert Micklitsch. Resident Tom DeYampert who knows Roberts and mentioned the traffic accident at the Feb. 23 City Commission meeting and shared his concerns.
“That crosswalk is a problem. Its one of the most dangerous I’ve seen and I grew up in Los Angeles. You go out and push the buttons and drivers will drive right through the crosswalk. This is year round,” DeYampert said.
The City Commission discussed pedestrian safety. They suggested continuing with sting operations, which is when one police officer poses as someone who is trying to cross the street and another officer will ticket motorists who do not yield to the pedestrian.
“I think we are going to have to continue with the sting operations, maybe (we can install) an island they can get to in the middle (of the crosswalk) where they can have a safer place (to wait). We need better lights. We need a much safer environment for them to cross that street,” said Mayor Michael Finnerty.
“Gulf Boulevard is designed to move cars. Its not designed to move people walking and that’s part of the problem,” said City Manager Mike Bonfield.
Commissioner Beverly Garnett said the city should have crosswalks like those in Saint Petersburg.
Since 2005 St. Petersburg has tested and now has operational a rapid-flashing crosswalk system in 32 locations, which is effective 85 percent of the time in having a motorist yield to a pedestrian. The system’s manufacturer, The Enhancer, came to them, said Saint Petersburg’s Manager of Neighborhood Transportation, Mike Frederick.
The new crosswalk system’s technical name is RRFB or rectangular rapid flashing beacons. The signal’s shape as the name indicates is a rectangle instead of a typical circular traffic signal. The signal transmits to the driver’s eye level. The signal looks more like the shape of a flashing light on an emergency vehicle, Frederick said.
The rapid-flashing system is pedestrian friendly. The pedestrian can activate it with a push button. But if they don’t the infrared system comes on by sensing the person’s body and voice. The system evens gives the pedestrian instructions on how to cross the road, Frederick said.
The rapid-flashing system is designed for the specific location. The location of the posts, push buttons and orientation of the beacons has to be custom designed, Frederick said. “Each crosswalk location is unique, you have to modify the product.”
The rapid-flashing system costs about the same as an amber light system (the type at the Blind Pass crossing) which St. Petersburg found is only effective 17 percent of the time in getting motorists to stop. The solar powered, radio-controlled system requires no wires, digging or power to install, Frederick said.
The rapid-flashing system gained federal approval in 2009 so anybody can use it. St. Petersburg even has one crosswalk site by Sunken Gardens that uses the system on a state road, Frederick said.
Four or five additional or modified crosswalks could come to the Gulf Boulevard/Blind
Pass Corridor. When asked if any of the crosswalks would use the flashing beacons like in St. Petersburg, Bonfield said the state was in the process of planning the upgrade and the city had not seen the details.
Bonfield said two years ago because the state did not have the funding, the city paid for the installation of the crosswalk on Blind Pass and the Don Cesar paid for the crosswalk near that hotel.
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