Coverage including video at WAVY.com.
Williams and Brown believe enforcement could lead to more awareness of pedestrians and crosswalk laws. They said this will be part of the Shore Drive Community Coalition’s safety initiative for the coming year, and they plan on bringing it before the city.
Some residents have also called for continuous sidewalks on Shore Drive and more crosswalks.
View comments and add your own to continue the conversation at WAVY TV story. Or comment below by clicking “LEAVE A COMMENT”.
Sorry, oh all knowing and all seeing benevolent Shore Drive Community Coalition, but you are trying to legislate STUPID.
Reduce the speed limit, they more boldly cross without the cross walk
Put up barriers, they will jump them.
I know this will sound harsh, but it is the Darwin theory in effect.
The stupid and week WILL be culled from the gene pool.
Clearly there can be more down to educate the users of this vital multi-modal thoroughfare.
4 examples, did you know:
§ 46.2-923. How and where pedestrians to cross highways.
When crossing highways, pedestrians shall not carelessly or maliciously interfere with the orderly passage of vehicles. They shall cross, wherever possible, only at intersections or marked crosswalks. Where intersections contain no marked crosswalks, pedestrians shall not be guilty of negligence as a matter of law for crossing at any such intersection or between intersections when crossing by the most direct route.
The governing body of any town or city or the governing body of a county authorized by law to regulate traffic may by ordinance permit pedestrians to cross an intersection diagonally when all traffic entering the intersection has been halted by lights, other traffic control devices, or by a law-enforcement officer.
Source: Virginia General Assembly Legislative Information System
§ 46.2-924. Drivers to stop for pedestrians; installation of certain signs; penalty.
A. The driver of any vehicle on a highway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian crossing such highway:
1. At any clearly marked crosswalk, whether at mid-block or at the end of any block;
2. At any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block;
3. At any intersection when the driver is approaching on a highway or street where the legal maximum speed does not exceed 35 miles per hour.
(contd)
Source: Virginia General Assembly Legislative Information System
Sharing the Road
Drivers share the road with many other users: pedestrians, bicyclists, moped and motorcycle riders, trucks and buses, recreational vehicles and other vehicles of all shapes and sizes. It is your responsibility to adjust your driving to avoid other drivers’ mistakes and assure everyone’s safety.
Source: Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Section 3: Safe Driving (24 page PDF)
Central to this evaluation will be the understanding that Shore Drive serves as the sole east-west transportation corridor in the City north of the I-264 / Virginia Beach Boulevard corridor. As such, from a land use perspective, it needs to be considered as a multimodal corridor and not solely as a vehicular corridor. Increased densities of development in the corridor demand that pedestrian amenities are more fully addressed in all aspects of the development process, from the rezoning and conditional use permit stage through to the development plan approval and inspection stage. The goal of improving the level of transportation services for a wide variety of users – pedestrians of all types, cyclists, in-line skaters, varied recreational users, transit users, as well as vehicle operators – and the interrelationships between these various users and land uses in an area characterized as being first and foremost as a resort community and not as a resort destination is suggested. Accordingly, both public and private proposed development criteria need to be evaluated from a multimodal perspective to ensure that the needs of these varied users are addressed. Since increasing roadway capacity in the area has strict limits, given the City Council directive that Shore Drive remain a four lane facility for the foreseeable future, greater emphasis needs to be placed on reducing intra-corridor trip demand, particularly where non- vehicular transit among various uses in the corridor can be promoted and encouraged.
Note:Emphasis ours.
Source: Excerpt from conclusion of COVB adopted Shore Drive Safety Task Force Recommendations 2006
View, and download Shore Drive Safety Task Force Recommendations from VBGov.com. (18 Page PDF)
Note: This is one document officially adopted by the City of Virginia Beach to be used for planning, construction, design and funding of infrastructure and other amenities for the Shore Drive community.
SHARE THE ROAD
First in a series for 2015.
