If someone hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk they should lose their right to drive for life. You don't get to drive a 2,000 lb machine around and not pay attention. Watching the road is first and foremost your most major responsibility. Your text message, phone call, sandwich, makeup... are not on the list of things to pay attention to in your car. Driving is not a right. It is a revokable privilege. If you can't follow the rules you shouldn't be driving.

It is certainly a nice direction, but traffic calming measures also need to be in scope to address pedestrian safety issues. Uptown and Downtown, while some of the most densely populated areas of the city, are not all that pedestrian friendly. Try to walk across Lagoon or Lake street between Hennepin and Calhoun around rush hour. Leap frog..

Glad to see they're trying something new to alert both drivers and pedestrians. In the last year there have been 3 deaths where I live and sadly I knew one of them.

There are a lot of bone headed drivers out there to watch for. However, the number of pedestrians that now aimless walk across streets with iEverythings is even more alarming. Making new rules, on top of the absurd amount of rules no one can already keep track of is equally boneheaded. It really comes down to one thing, if you want to live, PAY ATTENTION! I treat even green lights allowing me to walk as dangerous. Why? Because it IS. Darwin knew, when will the rest of us?

As a person that was just hit in a cross-walk by a 77 year old women making an illegal turn, they're attempt at anything is far better then doing nothing but it still all comes back to the person driving the car. I spent 2.5 days in the hospital and am going through chiropractic care. The major bruising is ultimately going to disappear but it makes me more worry some when I cross the street.

A vast majority of the drivers I have seen lately have no idea what a cross walk is. The drivers don't even slow down for stop signs and just blow through them. Cars aproaching an intersection that are making a right turn, barely slow down before they blast right around the corner. Pedestrians should be allowed to carry more than a bag of dog poop to protect themselves for bad drivers. When I walk my dog at night, I have to wear a safety vest so I can be seen and I still have to safety. Intersection cameras are needed all over the place including residential neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks. Driver education and tickets are needed, not fancy crosswalks that will be ignored anyway.

I wonder if the blinking lights in the pavement in Edina are just going to be a waste of money like the ones Mndot put in the pavement for the 35W mnpass lane - they did not even last one winter.

A huge factor with pedestrian safety is speed. It becomes difficult to see pedestrians on the side of a street and react in time to stop even at speeds of 30 or 35 mph. That's one reason why a lot of communities are pushing more to reduce speed limits.

Do these fancy crosswalk patterns comply with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices?

I really liked Salt Lake City's crosswalk amenities. There was a basket of orange flags on each stoplight. You'd take a flag with you as you crossed the street and deposited it in the basket on the other side.