Dear Action Line: What are cars supposed to do once the red light turns from solid to blinking in the crosswalk at Camino del Rio and 12th Street? I routinely use that crosswalk and (after waiting for what feels like an eternity), I observe cars stop for the solid red light, but proceed on the blinking light without stopping. Should they not be coming to a stop before they pass through the intersection? How many accidents have occurred there? – I. Eloise Staap
Dear Eloise: You know how it is that people forget stuff? And they need a reminder on how and when to do things?
Like, no, you can’t put the pizza box in the recycling bin, but thanks for considering the environment.
Take the gasoline out of the lawnmower before winter, or at least add a pinch of Sta-Bil to it. (Or be like Action Line and just get an electric mower.)
Squeeze some of that sealant goop into your tubeless tires every few months, because yes, that stuff dries out quickly, especially around here.
There. You’ve already gotten your money’s worth from today’s Action Line. Most writers would just stop right here, pat themselves on the back, and let that feeling of having helped society permeate their soul for several days. But there is some nagging feeling that we need to tie up a loose end here.
Oh yeah, like answering the questions. Let’s first go through the 12th and Camino pedestrian crossing sequence, which occurs after a pedestrian or a really smart animal, say a bear or more likely a yeti, pushes the crossing button. Action Line has tackled this question a couple times previously, so for many of you this will be a review:
- Flashing yellow: This means to drivers that they should prepare to stop. It’s your basic yellow traffic signal – it just flashes here to really get your attention.
- Solid red: This is just like a stop light. Drivers must come to a full stop, and wait.
- Flashing red: The next stage, the flashing red, means the same as a stop sign. This is the one that people often get wrong. Everyone needs to fully stop when reaching the crosswalk, and then proceed. Don’t just follow the vehicle in front of you through the flashing red.
Action Line accessed Herald archives and found a story about a pedestrian being hit at this crosswalk in 2015. The story was written by an up-and-coming young reporter named John Peel. (What the heck ever became of that dude?) A woman was hit pretty hard, and she and her dog were fortunate to suffer only minor injuries.
Guess what? It occurred because a Jeep Wrangler driver ignored a flashing red. A quote from the Durango Police spokesman: “When the signal went from solid red to flashing red, a vehicle in front of the Wrangler went through, and the Wrangler followed without stopping as it should have.”
Maybe drivers are paying more attention these days, maybe the crossing light has made it safer, maybe the medians installed along Camino del Rio in 2021 helped, or maybe we’ve just been lucky, but there have been no pedestrian vs. car accidents at this crossing since 2018.
At Action Line’s prodding, a Colorado Department of Transportation traffic engineer ran a five-year report. Lisa Schwantes, CDOT’s Southwest Colorado Communications Manager, passed along these revealing statistics.
From 2018 to 2023, there have been no pedestrian vs. vehicle crashes at the 12th Street crosswalk, she said. However, along Camino del Rio from the College Drive intersection to the crosswalk, there have been five pedestrian vs. vehicle incidents that all occurred at non-intersections.
Additionally, she reported, during that same time frame, looking at the entire four-mile stretch along Camino/Main from Santa Rita Park to Animas View Drive, there have been 19 pedestrian vs. vehicle incidents at non-intersections.
So, is it indeed safer to use the lighted crosswalk – or any crosswalk – than to dart across at any ol’ spot one chooses? One could draw that conclusion from these statistics.
Just the same, as a pedestrian, be wary when that red light begins to flash. And as a driver, please know this rule, and above all, don’t hit people. Please be on the lookout and give them right of way.
In the not-so-distant future, a long-talked-about underpass will hopefully appear near 12th Street. It will allow pedestrians to avoid Camino del Rio traffic altogether by going underneath it. Tricky, eh? The “Camino Crossing” is “still in the works,” the city’s multimodal manager, Devin King, said Wednesday.
“It was paused while the fire station was under design, but is planned to restart again in December/January,” he said. In the meantime, the city is applying for grants to help fund underpass construction.
And how about those individual jetpacks we were promised so long ago, and looked so handy on cartoons and sci-fi flicks? Why is it taking so long? Action Line’s inquiries to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for an update were not returned.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. We Were Promised Jetpacks is an indie rock band from Edinburgh, Scotland, and is not responsible for the lack of jetpacks.
