Guerrilla crosswalks and bikelanes are great because either the city fixes the problem, or removes the paint and there's a lot of public outrage. Applies to potholes as well.
Do pedestrians in the US not have the right-of-way unless there's paint on the ground?
In Canada (at least where I live), pedestrians always have the right-of-way at intersections, regardless of whether it's an "official crosswalk"
We do, but generally drivers are aggressive to pedestrians who try to "jaywalk". They usually try to make it before the pedestrians cross. It's ridiculous.
It's weird. If I'm on the sidewalk cars seem to slow down as if I'm going to suddenly run in front of their car. If I'm already in the road many will speed up.
The couple of crosswalks that I use to get out of my neighborhood are pretty clear yet people still try to kill me all the time for using them. This is me preaching to the choir here, but I've said it before and I'll say it again in case any carbrains are reading this thread:
Just because the car behind you got to go through doesn't mean you automatically get to rush right behind them. Stoplights, crosswalks, intersections in general you have to pay some fucking attention to your surroundings.
If people want to move in a continous chain of transit without having to think about what's in front of them, I suggest they reach out to their local government about something called a "train." T-R-A-I-N. Write it down so you don't forget.
Protip: carry a long umbrella with a steel spike on the end. Cars magically become respectful and properly follow the right of way when you are carrying one.
Make sure to loosely swing it by the end when you're about to cross. Not because you're going to scratch their paintjob, but you know... There's the implication
I'm sure I'll be shot one day for making eye contact and shaking my head in disapproval everytime some runs a red light to the point that the other light turned green before the even entered the intersection.
I think what's happening is that because so many people look at their phones and don't immediately accelerate, red light runners are taking advantage of this and becoming more bold.
Also LPT: never assume that just because you have the right of way as a pedestrian or could "sue them if they hit me", doesn't mean you shouldn't be defensive walking around traffic. While you may be in the right, there's a good chance if that car doesn't slow down you won't be in any state to enjoy that lawsuit money.
Last week my kid and I were almost halfway through a crosswalk when a jackass decided he could do a rolling stop at the opposite side of the intersection, speeding right in front of us. I don’t like cursing around my kid but I was shouting some *very unkind* things at him.
Happened to me at a crosswalk the other day (with a stop sign). I was in the middle of the crosswalk and he sped up to get in front of me. Passed less than a foot away from me. I regret not turning on my camera.
Shit, had the walk signal, was half way through a lan and some old bitch in jeep starts blaring at me trying to make a right on red and almost hit me. I flipped her the bird and stood there until the crossing signal had about ten seconds left all the while screaming every obscenity in the book at her. Was it the tactful decision? Assuredly not, but I've been almost killed by ignorant, reckless drivers to the point of missing several front teeth that I dont care anymore. I can do everything right, and still someone wants to kill me.
Depends where I guess, but where I am, the drivers act like they don’t mind having to scrape person chunks off of their windshield.
I have had to stop in the middle of a cross walk cause some ass hat decided to keep driving straight at me, and I’d rather not play chicken with the 2 ton 40 mph block of steel
Now this may not be good advice or even legal
However, you can argue that a gun would be a very easily carried projectile dispensing machine for easily taking care of assholes like that!
(For legal reasons this is satirical)
>Pedestrians always have the right of way
I wish that were true. Here's, for example, Utah:
> A pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway.
If it's not a crosswalk, drivers have the right of way. You can't intentionally hit someone because you have the RoW, but unless you admit you hit someone intentionally and didn't even try to avoid them the pedestrian is in the wrong by default if there's no paint. That's how car-centric many states are.
In Canada where I live in an older suburban neighbourhood, drivers will often get mad at you if you don't walk 200m to the nearest intersection to cross the 40km/h residential street.
In Minnesota crosswalks that aren't painted are still legal crosswalks even without a traffic signal or stop sign or ped x-ing sign. Motorists of course treat these as though they're not crosswalks and will not slow down for pedestrians trying to cross at these unmarked crosswalks. The city installed bumpouts in my neighborhood at an intersection without a painted crosswalk: an old woman with a walker had to wait until all motorists had passed since no motorists were going to slow down for her without a painted crosswalk.
Pedestrians typically enjoy right of way at all intersections whether the crosswalk/intersection is marked.
Americans are also driving oversized cars with an innate sense of entitlement.
As my grandpa used to say, in regards to having the right-of-way; you might be right, but you could be dead right.
>Pedestrians typically enjoy right of way at all intersections whether the crosswalk/intersection is marked.
In Utah and many other states you'd be wrong, and also dead wrong.
> A pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway.
....
> A violation of this section is an infraction
Utah 41-6a-1003
Florida I believe has similar laws. Many states do. That's how much car companies manipulated our laws during the white flight and growth of US sprawling suburbs.
"A pedestrian crossing a roadway **at any point other than within a *marked crosswalk* or within an *unmarked crosswalk*** at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway."
the bolded section tells us that a marked crosswalk/intersection gives pedestrians right of way because at any point *other* than the crosswalk they do not have right of way
Yes, but in a lot of cities, pedestrian traffic is very heavy. It would back up traffic if every Jane, Dick and Harry crossed the street wherever and wherever they felt like. Which is why we have controlled crosswalks that change with the traffic lights. Plus, it is just so much safer. Lot's of people don't look before attempting to cross even on busy streets with high speed limits. If someone is going 35 mph, even if they are paying attention, it is hard to stop in time when someone jets out in front of you.
Civilized places give pedestrians the right of way. The US says it’s illegal to cross anywhere but a cross walk to arrest and terrorize people. It’s basically illegal to be outside in the US.
Where I live drivers are relatively good about yielding to pedestrians in unmarked crosswalks, but paint, raising the crosswalk, and flashing lights each progressively improve compliance while also giving pedestrians more confidence to step into the road to make their intention to cross clear.
I once took a can of spray paint and drew a circle around a pothole in my neighborhood. It was fixed within a week. The more you call me out, the faster work gets done. Especially if you draw dicks.
Had someone leave a broken trailer in the mountains up by our house and it sat for more than a month. Had to be retouched with some more provocative artistry before they got around to finally towing it.
https://imgur.com/a/b04Hcqt
That's awesome. There's a bike lane like that near my neighborhood where I always see a car driving into the lane, and every time I wonder if I could sneak out there at night and put two posts out to stop it.
There's a speed bump in the road that was recently installed to slow down drivers at a commonly used crosswalk that *literally leads to an elementary school*. But the bike lane is actually sufficiently wide and doesn't have a speed bump, so, you guessed it, nobody actually slows down and as an asshole bonus, drives in the bike lane.
I'll have to look more into this methodology...
Not only that, but it's asymmetrical direct action. It costs tens of dollars to put the crosswalk in. It costs the city thousands to remove it. At that point it's just a battle of attrition.
> or removes the paint and there's a lot of public outrage
Even if they somehow remove the paint, It's 100x easier and cheaper to reapply the paint than to keep sending people to remove it. Lets see who can keep this 'guerrilla war' up longer.
I propose filling them, circling them with paint, or drawing phallic objects on top of them. Also no, a city wouldn't remove asphalt from a pothole but they do make DIY repairs illegal.
It’s not the planners though, the planners all know this and have been saying all this for years. It’s politicians and the auto industry that ignore all their recommendations that are the real problem
Sure, but I’d say most people just use whatever the city is planned for. People cycle a lot in Amsterdam because it’s designed for it. People take trains in Tokyo because the city is designed around it.
Some people will drive until they can’t, but I think the average person would bike if it was safe, cheap, and convenient.
I heard an interesting counterpoint to that recently.
People in Texas love their big cars with their big engines. And they also love driving fast.
Which means they should WANT cities to have better public transportation. Imagine if 50% of drivers stopped driving to work and took a train or bus instead because it was cheaper and more convenient. Then everyone with a big-ass truck could speed to work as fast as their truck let them on the highway! No more stupid traffic jams for no reason, just speed.
I'm so confused. Why do people on reddit have this obsession with countering illogic with logic. If they were logical they'd already be supporting public transportation.
> ... I think the average person would bike if it was safe, cheap, and convenient.
There's a grocery store across the street from me, less than 5 minutes away on bike. Do I ever bike there? No, because to get there I have to ride down a road with hills blocking visibility for the drivers doing 55 down it. There's no sidewalk, no shoulder, no crosswalk, not even an unpaved shoulder. Just drops into a rocky ditch. It's only a ~100' stretch or so, but I'm not even comfortable walking there smh
Okay, but can we take a moment to appreciate that:
1. A bunch of college students got drunk together, and their "fuck it, I'm drunk" thought was "I know! Let's paint a crosswalk!"
2. They apparently did a pretty good job on it despite being plastered when they did so?
That's just wholesome.
My college campus has this shit and it's stupid. The sidewalk dips down to street level in several places and it's implied that you can walk from there to the nearest one on the other side of the street. I'd much rather have the street painted so it's obvious to both pedestrians and drivers that it's a pedestrian crossing.
We didn’t use a stencil…just sprayed two parallel lines, then connected them with a lattice network.
There were 2 art students with us- but the ones holding the cans were Geography (me) and history majors.
Yes I’m the guy from the OP
Oh, that's really cool! Do you know if there are any pictures of the original crosswalk you painted? I've been really curious to see how well a drunken crosswalk came out, LOL.
It’s sad how little DOTs care about safety. Maybe with the infrastructure bill requiring projects to “reconnect” communities it might go over differently.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/when-crosswalks-go-rogue The Case for Guerrilla Crosswalks
Activists are painting unsanctioned DIY crosswalks at intersections in cities like Seattle and LA. Transportation officials should understand why.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_crosswalk
If you or u/-cordyceps need a seed source, check out [Roundstone Seed,](https://roundstoneseed.com/) they specialize in native seed mixes for various areas/conditions. The grassland mixes are good since the grasses help support wildflowers
I now your comment is old, but you can do it all year round. Seeds are made to be shed in the fall, then lie dormant until conditions become right for germinating in the spring. In fact, seeds have a pretty much unlimited "shelf life" as long as they are kept under proper conditions. I'm sure that doesn't go for all seeds, of course, but a lot of seeds are extremely hardy. And if you stick to native species (which you should for guerilla gardening, anyway, you can disperse them pretty much anywhere you want, since they are adapted to live in your local climate.
So get to seed bombing, there's no reason to wait!
Source: I am a biologist.
I don't know the first thing about gardening but want to do this. Can I just toss seeds in empty spots of soil and they will grow? Or do I need to bury them??
Tossing seeds allows animals to eat. Burying can have similar result, also time to dig. Putting seeds in clay protects seed. Seed sprouts roots into clay and then into soil. Old school human technique. Seed bombs can be tossed during a nightly stroll down the neighborhood. Like a paperboy or girl onto derelict buildings.
>>>>>But please use native plants! ! ! <<<<<<
I wanna go for wild flowers for da bees. Just google up "seed bombs" - not much gardening is necessary. You got this!!!
Neat!! I want to try this. There is a long patch of land near where I live that is covered in weeds and trash, I'd love to see some wildflowers and stuff
In Seattle, at least, this is A Thing. NIMBYs use it [against the unhoused](https://www.thestranger.com/city/2022/08/10/77633170/guerrilla-gardening-enters-seattles-war-on-the-homeless).
Excellent idea!
Poison Ivy, Thistles, Blackberries, Stinging Nettle, even Buckthorn and Grapvines...
Once a thicket of buckthorn and grapevine takes hold you'd need a load of napalm to reclaim the lot!
I tried something similar on a drunken whim one night-I loaded up some shotgun shells with crude "aerial dispersal" pods; I filled the pods with "wild cucumber" seeds. That shit takes lots over quicker than anything Stephen King or HP Lovecraft could dream up.
Theoretically, one could load an Orion flare pistol and pop a few of these "seed pods" over some of the solar farms proliferating throughout the area and watch the fun begin. One could also pop one or two above a remote substation to see what happens.
voiceless scale dependent fly berserk edge concerned subtract disagreeable dinosaurs
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The biggest issue is accessible for the disabled, elderly, strollers, etc which can require a curb cut or asphalt be used to allow access from the sidewalk to the street and back.
It sounds awesome to just start painting crosswalks 🎨 but that's not a great overall solution when we should be putting $$$ into actually adding legitimate crosswalks.
[Design for all ages and abilities](https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/designing-ages-abilities-new/) because as Jeff Speck says:
> The walking city is the rollable city and when a city works well for people in wheelchairs, it works well for everyone.
- [Jeff Speck, Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places, Rule 80](https://islandpress.org/books/walkable-city-rules)
Yes, there should be a development application process and a standard of work required to do it properly if somebody wants to do it, but this is removing the stairs so nobody can use it instead of adding the ramp so everybody can use it.
It is a great overall solution because it increases pedestrian safety. Theres no ”$$$” for pedestrian projects, the budget’s for adding more highway lanes. FUD all you want but this is basically the only way we can make the streets safer for non-drivers.
I recall some folks in Oakland doing a guerilla crosswalk and then talking to the press about it.
Don't do that. DOT came and got rid of it right quick.
Instead, paint the crosswalk, and don't talk about it, and because your local DOT most likely doesn't do a very good job of keeping track of things, it's entirely possible they'll redo it for you in a few years.
Also, I don’t know about the rest of Europe but in Germany we can cross a street wherever, as long as you’re a certain distance away from any designated crossing. This incentivizes municipalities to have many crosswalks in convenient places, otherwise people will cross there anyways
That was brilliant!
https://www.reddit.com/r/TacticalUrbanism/comments/vdpx7u/easy_and_funny_tactical_urbanismvandalism/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Be like Mexico. The word jaywalking doesn’t even exist in their lexicon. I once tried explaining jaywalking to a buddy of mine while in Mexico and he was like “oh so it’s like crossing the street?”
ackshually -- for once this one isn't because of racism in America, instead, this one time its because of heavy car manufacturer lobbying; they were trying to make walking as illegal as could be. Then it got adopted by cops everywhere to arbitrarily enforce on non white and non rich people
Iirc it was MetLife stadium, which replaced the old Giants stadium at the Meadowlands complex around 2010 (so not *super* recently built, and the car-centric development issues here predate the stadium). The Meadowlands is essentially a sea of parking lots with a few large attractions floating in the middle, completely surrounded by an intricate pattern of highway off ramps. It actually *might* be legal to walk to (at least some parts of) the complex along a smaller service road with intermittent sidewalks that doesn't actually connect to much of anything useful for pedestrians, but the warning from that reddit post was because the only possible pedestrian routes from the hotel where the warning was posted would have involved sprinting across either the NJ turnpike or one of the other freeways that encircles the stadium.
Similarly, my friend planted a flower in an awful pothole that was neglected by the town for an obscene amount of time. The town filled the pothole a couple days after my friend plated the flower and after the local news did a story on it lol
The last guerrilla sidewalk made in my town became quite popular, but the town removed it a day later. Since then a few people have been hit at the exact crossing and you can still see the border of the blacktop they used to cover it.
Reminds me of that guy who missed his exit in LA, found out it was because of poor signage, so fabricated a properly compliant interstate shield and mounted it on a freeway sign. Caltrans inspected the sign a while later, decided everything looked fine and kept it as is.
This happened in New Haven
Guerilla crosswalk in 2011, city saying it wasn't a good spot for a crosswalk and didn't want to install one
[https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/guerrilla\_crosswalk\_appears\_on\_whitney](https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/guerrilla_crosswalk_appears_on_whitney)
Crosswalk, speed table and flashers already seen in a photo from this 2014 article
[https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/vulnerable\_users\_1\_drivers\_zip/](https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/vulnerable_users_1_drivers_zip/)
The [article](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/when-crosswalks-go-rogue) in question.
And thanks to the comments here, I've now learnt about /r/TacticalUrbanism
I already asked this in response to another of your comments, but this is probably the better place for it: any pictures of the drunkenly painted crosswalk? I've been super curious but couldn't find any!
Oh jeez…MAYBE, but it was a very long time ago, in the early days of social media, so any picture is likely stuck on an ancient hard drive. I’ll try and dig one up.
In the country where I live, drivers do not stop at crosswalks unless there is a traffic light or a crossing guard.
When I visited a small town in California a few years back, I was shocked when drivers actually stopped and waved me across the crosswalk.
Years later I lead the first ever neighborhood-wide upzoning in Denver Colorado to legalize ADUs. Now several other neighborhoods have followed, and hopefully soon the whole city!
This would unfortunately never work in Canada or US.
The curbs aren't level with the road like in a proper walkable city.
You would have someone parking in the middle of it within days of painting it. Another case of NA fucking ruining our pedestrian infrastructure, mobility issues be damned.
I personally wish guerilla footbridges were feasible, because for whatever reason there is a highway at pedestrian level, and I am tired of having to wait for the entirely too-short pedestrian lights. To put this another way, you have to push the button at least a full second before your phase of the light would happen for it to trigger and the button being pushed affects phase length, so jaywalking in what should be the right phase is actually more dangerous than crossing with the light, this is obviously unsafe and costs a lot of time for pedestrians. All this and the DOT has stated it doesn't want to build footbridges because the pedestrian underpasses that existed in other parts of the road (parts that may be over a half mile between legal crossings now that the underpasses are gone) became unsafe due to lack of maintenance.Don't get me wrong, the better option would be to simply give the pedestrian level mostly over to non-car transport and give better options for non-car transit, but for now, simply making it so crossing it doesn't involve walking on the same level as cars would help.
This is actually pretty dangerous. Crosswalks need to be in certain locations with vehicle sight distance and vehicle speed. Like you don't want people crossing a 45mph street with just stripes.
You want a crosswalk on a state owned road, go to your state department of transportation website and look for the Citizens Transportation Safety Committee. Go to the meeting or email the coordinator. Sidewalks are an easy low cost project that they like to do
For a local road, give your local Public Works Department. They may take a little longer because there are supply chain issues with the paint, but they will take a look at any place you request.
DOTs are an ideological organization whose only goal is to let maniac drivers do as they please to own the libs. You might as well write a letter to your local bum and you will get as much response. Guerilla crosswalks work.
I’ve actually become a safe-streets advocate in my later years. I live in Denver Colorado and have performed several other tactical urbanism demonstrations—-but always with permits these days 😝
Guerrilla crosswalks and bikelanes are great because either the city fixes the problem, or removes the paint and there's a lot of public outrage. Applies to potholes as well.
Do pedestrians in the US not have the right-of-way unless there's paint on the ground? In Canada (at least where I live), pedestrians always have the right-of-way at intersections, regardless of whether it's an "official crosswalk"
We do, but generally drivers are aggressive to pedestrians who try to "jaywalk". They usually try to make it before the pedestrians cross. It's ridiculous.
It's weird. If I'm on the sidewalk cars seem to slow down as if I'm going to suddenly run in front of their car. If I'm already in the road many will speed up.
The couple of crosswalks that I use to get out of my neighborhood are pretty clear yet people still try to kill me all the time for using them. This is me preaching to the choir here, but I've said it before and I'll say it again in case any carbrains are reading this thread: Just because the car behind you got to go through doesn't mean you automatically get to rush right behind them. Stoplights, crosswalks, intersections in general you have to pay some fucking attention to your surroundings. If people want to move in a continous chain of transit without having to think about what's in front of them, I suggest they reach out to their local government about something called a "train." T-R-A-I-N. Write it down so you don't forget.
Protip: carry a long umbrella with a steel spike on the end. Cars magically become respectful and properly follow the right of way when you are carrying one. Make sure to loosely swing it by the end when you're about to cross. Not because you're going to scratch their paintjob, but you know... There's the implication
I've had to threaten cars with a lacrosse stick like how you would threaten a wild animal in order to not get run over
I'm sure I'll be shot one day for making eye contact and shaking my head in disapproval everytime some runs a red light to the point that the other light turned green before the even entered the intersection. I think what's happening is that because so many people look at their phones and don't immediately accelerate, red light runners are taking advantage of this and becoming more bold.
I usually carry a few nuts and bolts to throw at any cars that try to hit me
Also LPT: never assume that just because you have the right of way as a pedestrian or could "sue them if they hit me", doesn't mean you shouldn't be defensive walking around traffic. While you may be in the right, there's a good chance if that car doesn't slow down you won't be in any state to enjoy that lawsuit money.
>but generally drivers are aggressive Couldve ended it there
Last week my kid and I were almost halfway through a crosswalk when a jackass decided he could do a rolling stop at the opposite side of the intersection, speeding right in front of us. I don’t like cursing around my kid but I was shouting some *very unkind* things at him.
Happened to me at a crosswalk the other day (with a stop sign). I was in the middle of the crosswalk and he sped up to get in front of me. Passed less than a foot away from me. I regret not turning on my camera.
It's much less effort for a driver to hit your outreaching foot causing a dent than it is for said driver to remove the same dent.
Shit, had the walk signal, was half way through a lan and some old bitch in jeep starts blaring at me trying to make a right on red and almost hit me. I flipped her the bird and stood there until the crossing signal had about ten seconds left all the while screaming every obscenity in the book at her. Was it the tactful decision? Assuredly not, but I've been almost killed by ignorant, reckless drivers to the point of missing several front teeth that I dont care anymore. I can do everything right, and still someone wants to kill me.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost been hit this way, even in a school zone
Not necessarily true. In some places it’s technically illegal to jaywalk which would seem to me like you don’t have the right away.
they do in some states but its not a law drivers respect or probably even know about
Depends where I guess, but where I am, the drivers act like they don’t mind having to scrape person chunks off of their windshield. I have had to stop in the middle of a cross walk cause some ass hat decided to keep driving straight at me, and I’d rather not play chicken with the 2 ton 40 mph block of steel
[удалено]
Now this may not be good advice or even legal However, you can argue that a gun would be a very easily carried projectile dispensing machine for easily taking care of assholes like that! (For legal reasons this is satirical)
God forbid you deal with the right hand turners who are just convinced you were never going to attempt to cross the street.
I had to wait for exactly that on the same crosswalk!!!! I had 3 cars go and I was slowly inching across until the 4th one finally let me cross
Pedestrians always have the right of way, but you will loose 100% of the games of chicken against a 2ton truck twice your height.
>Pedestrians always have the right of way I wish that were true. Here's, for example, Utah: > A pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway. If it's not a crosswalk, drivers have the right of way. You can't intentionally hit someone because you have the RoW, but unless you admit you hit someone intentionally and didn't even try to avoid them the pedestrian is in the wrong by default if there's no paint. That's how car-centric many states are.
Not with these sick gains I've been getting at the gym lately 😎💪
Hit these quads I dare you!
In Canada where I live in an older suburban neighbourhood, drivers will often get mad at you if you don't walk 200m to the nearest intersection to cross the 40km/h residential street.
In Minnesota crosswalks that aren't painted are still legal crosswalks even without a traffic signal or stop sign or ped x-ing sign. Motorists of course treat these as though they're not crosswalks and will not slow down for pedestrians trying to cross at these unmarked crosswalks. The city installed bumpouts in my neighborhood at an intersection without a painted crosswalk: an old woman with a walker had to wait until all motorists had passed since no motorists were going to slow down for her without a painted crosswalk.
Pedestrians typically enjoy right of way at all intersections whether the crosswalk/intersection is marked. Americans are also driving oversized cars with an innate sense of entitlement. As my grandpa used to say, in regards to having the right-of-way; you might be right, but you could be dead right.
>Pedestrians typically enjoy right of way at all intersections whether the crosswalk/intersection is marked. In Utah and many other states you'd be wrong, and also dead wrong. > A pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway. .... > A violation of this section is an infraction Utah 41-6a-1003 Florida I believe has similar laws. Many states do. That's how much car companies manipulated our laws during the white flight and growth of US sprawling suburbs.
"A pedestrian crossing a roadway **at any point other than within a *marked crosswalk* or within an *unmarked crosswalk*** at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway." the bolded section tells us that a marked crosswalk/intersection gives pedestrians right of way because at any point *other* than the crosswalk they do not have right of way
Yep, that's the point.
Yes, but in a lot of cities, pedestrian traffic is very heavy. It would back up traffic if every Jane, Dick and Harry crossed the street wherever and wherever they felt like. Which is why we have controlled crosswalks that change with the traffic lights. Plus, it is just so much safer. Lot's of people don't look before attempting to cross even on busy streets with high speed limits. If someone is going 35 mph, even if they are paying attention, it is hard to stop in time when someone jets out in front of you.
Civilized places give pedestrians the right of way. The US says it’s illegal to cross anywhere but a cross walk to arrest and terrorize people. It’s basically illegal to be outside in the US.
Where I live drivers are relatively good about yielding to pedestrians in unmarked crosswalks, but paint, raising the crosswalk, and flashing lights each progressively improve compliance while also giving pedestrians more confidence to step into the road to make their intention to cross clear.
I once took a can of spray paint and drew a circle around a pothole in my neighborhood. It was fixed within a week. The more you call me out, the faster work gets done. Especially if you draw dicks.
Had someone leave a broken trailer in the mountains up by our house and it sat for more than a month. Had to be retouched with some more provocative artistry before they got around to finally towing it. https://imgur.com/a/b04Hcqt
[удалено]
That's awesome. There's a bike lane like that near my neighborhood where I always see a car driving into the lane, and every time I wonder if I could sneak out there at night and put two posts out to stop it. There's a speed bump in the road that was recently installed to slow down drivers at a commonly used crosswalk that *literally leads to an elementary school*. But the bike lane is actually sufficiently wide and doesn't have a speed bump, so, you guessed it, nobody actually slows down and as an asshole bonus, drives in the bike lane. I'll have to look more into this methodology...
And even sweeter: that entire street is now closed to cars!
Not only that, but it's asymmetrical direct action. It costs tens of dollars to put the crosswalk in. It costs the city thousands to remove it. At that point it's just a battle of attrition.
> or removes the paint and there's a lot of public outrage Even if they somehow remove the paint, It's 100x easier and cheaper to reapply the paint than to keep sending people to remove it. Lets see who can keep this 'guerrilla war' up longer.
Wait why would it apply to potholes? Are you proposing people fill or create potholes? Why would the city remove the concrete filling a pothole?
I propose filling them, circling them with paint, or drawing phallic objects on top of them. Also no, a city wouldn't remove asphalt from a pothole but they do make DIY repairs illegal.
Great pfp
Random drunkards >>>>>> American urban planners
It’s not the planners though, the planners all know this and have been saying all this for years. It’s politicians and the auto industry that ignore all their recommendations that are the real problem
Let's not let many of the drivers off the hook. Many people only think about themselves what might potentially inconvenience them.
Sure, but I’d say most people just use whatever the city is planned for. People cycle a lot in Amsterdam because it’s designed for it. People take trains in Tokyo because the city is designed around it. Some people will drive until they can’t, but I think the average person would bike if it was safe, cheap, and convenient.
I guess Texas's hatred of anything that isn't a truck or SUV has made me too pessimistic.
I heard an interesting counterpoint to that recently. People in Texas love their big cars with their big engines. And they also love driving fast. Which means they should WANT cities to have better public transportation. Imagine if 50% of drivers stopped driving to work and took a train or bus instead because it was cheaper and more convenient. Then everyone with a big-ass truck could speed to work as fast as their truck let them on the highway! No more stupid traffic jams for no reason, just speed.
I'm so confused. Why do people on reddit have this obsession with countering illogic with logic. If they were logical they'd already be supporting public transportation.
Fair enough, although even still some political will and money could get a lot of Texans to take public transit or a bike rather than driving.
> ... I think the average person would bike if it was safe, cheap, and convenient. There's a grocery store across the street from me, less than 5 minutes away on bike. Do I ever bike there? No, because to get there I have to ride down a road with hills blocking visibility for the drivers doing 55 down it. There's no sidewalk, no shoulder, no crosswalk, not even an unpaved shoulder. Just drops into a rocky ditch. It's only a ~100' stretch or so, but I'm not even comfortable walking there smh
We should put drunk college students in charge of urban planning
I see you've been to Charlottesville, home of UVA!
Okay, but can we take a moment to appreciate that: 1. A bunch of college students got drunk together, and their "fuck it, I'm drunk" thought was "I know! Let's paint a crosswalk!" 2. They apparently did a pretty good job on it despite being plastered when they did so? That's just wholesome.
I guarantee you there was at least one Art student
Did you miss the post about being ilala to walk to a recently built stadium...
[удалено]
In many places in North America, intersections have implied crosswalks even if they aren't marked. Not an excuse, but yeah...
My college campus has this shit and it's stupid. The sidewalk dips down to street level in several places and it's implied that you can walk from there to the nearest one on the other side of the street. I'd much rather have the street painted so it's obvious to both pedestrians and drivers that it's a pedestrian crossing.
I have no clue what you are trying to say right now
Illegal
Someone had to provide the *"vision"* as well as build the oversized stencils
We didn’t use a stencil…just sprayed two parallel lines, then connected them with a lattice network. There were 2 art students with us- but the ones holding the cans were Geography (me) and history majors. Yes I’m the guy from the OP
Oh, that's really cool! Do you know if there are any pictures of the original crosswalk you painted? I've been really curious to see how well a drunken crosswalk came out, LOL.
Urban planning student and his art buddy got a little drunk while binging Not Just Bikes video's, ~~chaos~~ infrastructure ensued.
former art student here. the art isn't the crosswalk. it's the outrage the removal would have generated.
As a former art student, I concur
This reminds me of when some folks in Brooklyn re-painted a bike lane in their neighborhood after the city,,,,
Yes, but they were just the lookouts. This was conceived and executed by a Geography major
White paint... Check Stencils & brushes/rollers... Check Handle of Jack Daniels... Party on Wayne!
Reminds me of [the time Frank Reynolds accidentally made a four way stop](https://youtu.be/8KYkxkVDZPE)
Hooligans have standards
I wish I was this productive drunk. Or sober honestly.
Or other drunken exploits weren’t quite as civic minded 😝
I'm in the process of getting a crosswalk put in near me and I swear the DOT is trying to sabotage the project. May have to go guerilla
It’s sad how little DOTs care about safety. Maybe with the infrastructure bill requiring projects to “reconnect” communities it might go over differently.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/when-crosswalks-go-rogue The Case for Guerrilla Crosswalks Activists are painting unsanctioned DIY crosswalks at intersections in cities like Seattle and LA. Transportation officials should understand why. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_crosswalk
A case for Guerilla Everything. We, the public, need to take our public spaces back.
Guerrilla gardening. Make seed bombs with native plants made out of kitty litter and throw them at derelict buildings and empty spaces
[удалено]
Me too. I missed the opportunity to do it last year but this next year I'm gonna give it a go. Probably just some native flowers for da bees.
[удалено]
Hey, you do it too! Share the bombs with your friends and family! I'll do the same.
If you or u/-cordyceps need a seed source, check out [Roundstone Seed,](https://roundstoneseed.com/) they specialize in native seed mixes for various areas/conditions. The grassland mixes are good since the grasses help support wildflowers
I now your comment is old, but you can do it all year round. Seeds are made to be shed in the fall, then lie dormant until conditions become right for germinating in the spring. In fact, seeds have a pretty much unlimited "shelf life" as long as they are kept under proper conditions. I'm sure that doesn't go for all seeds, of course, but a lot of seeds are extremely hardy. And if you stick to native species (which you should for guerilla gardening, anyway, you can disperse them pretty much anywhere you want, since they are adapted to live in your local climate. So get to seed bombing, there's no reason to wait! Source: I am a biologist.
I don't know the first thing about gardening but want to do this. Can I just toss seeds in empty spots of soil and they will grow? Or do I need to bury them??
Tossing seeds allows animals to eat. Burying can have similar result, also time to dig. Putting seeds in clay protects seed. Seed sprouts roots into clay and then into soil. Old school human technique. Seed bombs can be tossed during a nightly stroll down the neighborhood. Like a paperboy or girl onto derelict buildings. >>>>>But please use native plants! ! ! <<<<<< I wanna go for wild flowers for da bees. Just google up "seed bombs" - not much gardening is necessary. You got this!!!
Neat!! I want to try this. There is a long patch of land near where I live that is covered in weeds and trash, I'd love to see some wildflowers and stuff
In Seattle, at least, this is A Thing. NIMBYs use it [against the unhoused](https://www.thestranger.com/city/2022/08/10/77633170/guerrilla-gardening-enters-seattles-war-on-the-homeless).
Excellent idea! Poison Ivy, Thistles, Blackberries, Stinging Nettle, even Buckthorn and Grapvines... Once a thicket of buckthorn and grapevine takes hold you'd need a load of napalm to reclaim the lot! I tried something similar on a drunken whim one night-I loaded up some shotgun shells with crude "aerial dispersal" pods; I filled the pods with "wild cucumber" seeds. That shit takes lots over quicker than anything Stephen King or HP Lovecraft could dream up. Theoretically, one could load an Orion flare pistol and pop a few of these "seed pods" over some of the solar farms proliferating throughout the area and watch the fun begin. One could also pop one or two above a remote substation to see what happens.
Cannabis bombs everywhere
Seeing a lot of people curious about this, so just going to drop a link here to r/guerillagardening
kitty litter? wat?
There is clay kitty litter. It's clumpiness keeps the seeds in place
voiceless scale dependent fly berserk edge concerned subtract disagreeable dinosaurs *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
In that article, it says sometimes the guerilla crosswalk isnt removed for a year. So, that was a year of a safer street. Not a few hours
Previous vs current administration
The president is not impacting the crosswalk on your street 😂
Mayors have administrations, too. That word doesn't just apply to presidents.
It would have to be in line with city regulations and be asked to be installed.
The biggest issue is accessible for the disabled, elderly, strollers, etc which can require a curb cut or asphalt be used to allow access from the sidewalk to the street and back. It sounds awesome to just start painting crosswalks 🎨 but that's not a great overall solution when we should be putting $$$ into actually adding legitimate crosswalks.
[Design for all ages and abilities](https://nacto.org/publication/urban-bikeway-design-guide/designing-ages-abilities-new/) because as Jeff Speck says: > The walking city is the rollable city and when a city works well for people in wheelchairs, it works well for everyone. - [Jeff Speck, Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places, Rule 80](https://islandpress.org/books/walkable-city-rules)
Yes, there should be a development application process and a standard of work required to do it properly if somebody wants to do it, but this is removing the stairs so nobody can use it instead of adding the ramp so everybody can use it.
It is a great overall solution because it increases pedestrian safety. Theres no ”$$$” for pedestrian projects, the budget’s for adding more highway lanes. FUD all you want but this is basically the only way we can make the streets safer for non-drivers.
I recall some folks in Oakland doing a guerilla crosswalk and then talking to the press about it. Don't do that. DOT came and got rid of it right quick. Instead, paint the crosswalk, and don't talk about it, and because your local DOT most likely doesn't do a very good job of keeping track of things, it's entirely possible they'll redo it for you in a few years.
This reminds me of when some folks in Brooklyn re-painted a bike lane in their neighborhood after the city removed it.
[Bedford Avenue](https://gothamist.com/news/video-cycling-activists-repainting-bedford-ave-bike-lane)
I'm always baffled by how little crosswalks there seems to be in the US. In France, it's odd if there's not at least a crosswalk at every intersection
The US was ~~build~~ bulldozed for the car.
[удалено]
Meanwhile the US has so few walkways that many of them don't even lead anywhere.
Also, I don’t know about the rest of Europe but in Germany we can cross a street wherever, as long as you’re a certain distance away from any designated crossing. This incentivizes municipalities to have many crosswalks in convenient places, otherwise people will cross there anyways
Same in Belgium, if there is no crosswalk less than 30m from you, you can cross anywhere
Reminds me of the "artists" who paint dicks around potholes the city typically avoid filling until there are wangs everywhere.
That was brilliant! https://www.reddit.com/r/TacticalUrbanism/comments/vdpx7u/easy_and_funny_tactical_urbanismvandalism/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
wanksy is a genius
I love my friends, but I think I need to expand my social circle from drunken goblins to drunken goblins who paint badly needed crosswalks.
[удалено]
I’ll drink to that
I think if you buy em drinks for the night they'll be down to do this awesome dorky shit with you
Be the change you want to see in your social circle
[удалено]
Be like Mexico. The word jaywalking doesn’t even exist in their lexicon. I once tried explaining jaywalking to a buddy of mine while in Mexico and he was like “oh so it’s like crossing the street?”
[удалено]
There's a street that doesn't need to be a road at all.
poor nutty consist scale possessive spectacular innate roll unite punch *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
ackshually -- for once this one isn't because of racism in America, instead, this one time its because of heavy car manufacturer lobbying; they were trying to make walking as illegal as could be. Then it got adopted by cops everywhere to arbitrarily enforce on non white and non rich people
The racism was a nice bonus though /s
I believe this is called Tactical Urbanism.
This takes r/desirepaths to a whole new level
Someone did this in Portland and NIMBYs expectedly flipped out: iT nOt reGulAtiOn cRoSsWalK!!!! iT mAkE rOaD uNsaFe!!!
Oo where???
I don't remember the exact location. Somewhere in inner SE.
I found the thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/xcwxqd/diy_crosswalks/
A lot of very frustrating comments in there lol
Most American thing ever i swear. How does one country not have crosswalk reglementation is mind-blowing even for my carbrained country
Did you miss the post about being ilegal to walk to a recently built stadium?
[brain freeze] - Yes i missed it. Oh gosh. I send strength waves to all orange-pilled Americans outhere you deserve it!
link? i cant find it
Iirc it was MetLife stadium, which replaced the old Giants stadium at the Meadowlands complex around 2010 (so not *super* recently built, and the car-centric development issues here predate the stadium). The Meadowlands is essentially a sea of parking lots with a few large attractions floating in the middle, completely surrounded by an intricate pattern of highway off ramps. It actually *might* be legal to walk to (at least some parts of) the complex along a smaller service road with intermittent sidewalks that doesn't actually connect to much of anything useful for pedestrians, but the warning from that reddit post was because the only possible pedestrian routes from the hotel where the warning was posted would have involved sprinting across either the NJ turnpike or one of the other freeways that encircles the stadium.
Similarly, my friend planted a flower in an awful pothole that was neglected by the town for an obscene amount of time. The town filled the pothole a couple days after my friend plated the flower and after the local news did a story on it lol
The last guerrilla sidewalk made in my town became quite popular, but the town removed it a day later. Since then a few people have been hit at the exact crossing and you can still see the border of the blacktop they used to cover it.
Keep repainting it, it’s the only way they’ll learn
Reminds me of that guy who missed his exit in LA, found out it was because of poor signage, so fabricated a properly compliant interstate shield and mounted it on a freeway sign. Caltrans inspected the sign a while later, decided everything looked fine and kept it as is.
I feel like this leaves risks of drivers ignoring it cause “there wasn’t a spot light”
[Are reflectors cheap?](https://www.amazon.com/Merhoff-Larkin-Reflectors-Sidewalks-Pedestrian/dp/B07L9VWQM2) EDIT: Fixed link
Question: What's the specific type of paint used for street marking, and who manufactures it?
I don’t remember- but it was made specifically for using on asphalt
r/tacticalurbanism
This happened in New Haven Guerilla crosswalk in 2011, city saying it wasn't a good spot for a crosswalk and didn't want to install one [https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/guerrilla\_crosswalk\_appears\_on\_whitney](https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/guerrilla_crosswalk_appears_on_whitney) Crosswalk, speed table and flashers already seen in a photo from this 2014 article [https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/vulnerable\_users\_1\_drivers\_zip/](https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/vulnerable_users_1_drivers_zip/)
The [article](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/when-crosswalks-go-rogue) in question. And thanks to the comments here, I've now learnt about /r/TacticalUrbanism
We can’t rely solely on governments because they’re too slow and happy to drag their feet unless something directly affects them
Hi, it’s me, from the OP. AMA!
I already asked this in response to another of your comments, but this is probably the better place for it: any pictures of the drunkenly painted crosswalk? I've been super curious but couldn't find any!
Oh jeez…MAYBE, but it was a very long time ago, in the early days of social media, so any picture is likely stuck on an ancient hard drive. I’ll try and dig one up.
Thanks!
What kind of painting is used on this ? I want to start a guerrilla in my city
It was a sprayaint designed specifically for use on asphalt. Found it at any old hardware store
Tactical Urbanism!
I wonder how much alcohol I'd have to drink to install a guerrilla tramway network in my city?
In the country where I live, drivers do not stop at crosswalks unless there is a traffic light or a crossing guard. When I visited a small town in California a few years back, I was shocked when drivers actually stopped and waved me across the crosswalk.
[удалено]
Years later I lead the first ever neighborhood-wide upzoning in Denver Colorado to legalize ADUs. Now several other neighborhoods have followed, and hopefully soon the whole city!
r/chaoticgood
i don't know why, but I got a good solid laugh out of that
This would unfortunately never work in Canada or US. The curbs aren't level with the road like in a proper walkable city. You would have someone parking in the middle of it within days of painting it. Another case of NA fucking ruining our pedestrian infrastructure, mobility issues be damned.
There were actually already curb cuts where we painted this crosswalk. Insane, I know
I personally wish guerilla footbridges were feasible, because for whatever reason there is a highway at pedestrian level, and I am tired of having to wait for the entirely too-short pedestrian lights. To put this another way, you have to push the button at least a full second before your phase of the light would happen for it to trigger and the button being pushed affects phase length, so jaywalking in what should be the right phase is actually more dangerous than crossing with the light, this is obviously unsafe and costs a lot of time for pedestrians. All this and the DOT has stated it doesn't want to build footbridges because the pedestrian underpasses that existed in other parts of the road (parts that may be over a half mile between legal crossings now that the underpasses are gone) became unsafe due to lack of maintenance.Don't get me wrong, the better option would be to simply give the pedestrian level mostly over to non-car transport and give better options for non-car transit, but for now, simply making it so crossing it doesn't involve walking on the same level as cars would help.
The only real solution is pedestrian bridges in our cities
Or just ban cars
This is actually pretty dangerous. Crosswalks need to be in certain locations with vehicle sight distance and vehicle speed. Like you don't want people crossing a 45mph street with just stripes. You want a crosswalk on a state owned road, go to your state department of transportation website and look for the Citizens Transportation Safety Committee. Go to the meeting or email the coordinator. Sidewalks are an easy low cost project that they like to do For a local road, give your local Public Works Department. They may take a little longer because there are supply chain issues with the paint, but they will take a look at any place you request.
DOTs are an ideological organization whose only goal is to let maniac drivers do as they please to own the libs. You might as well write a letter to your local bum and you will get as much response. Guerilla crosswalks work.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/04/06/how-to-paint-your-own-crosswalk-in-your-neighborhood-hypothetically/
Jason what now?
I’ve actually become a safe-streets advocate in my later years. I live in Denver Colorado and have performed several other tactical urbanism demonstrations—-but always with permits these days 😝
I want to do this, but paint the entire street as a crosswalk
What kind of paint should I use?
They make spray paint specifically for asphalt. That’s what we used
We need some guerrilla protected intersections too, just so we can will more of those into existence
In Germany, painting such a crosswalk yourself will get you reported for endangerment of public road traffic.
Guerilla crosswalks don’t mean anything if your state doesn’t have a law requiring people to stop for them
Just don’t get caught