Since 1996, 62 pedestrians have been injured or killed in Kirkland crosswalks. The town is attempting to combat the problem by making pedestrians more apparent to automobiles. At crosswalks they have yellow flags in a bucket to be carried across the street with you. The goal is to get 40% of pedestrians using flags by 2010. In the last survey less than 9% were using the flags but at that time the flags were orange colored. Respondents to the survey said the original orange flags looked too much like construction flags, and they felt silly using them. Hopefully the money spent on the color change will make all the difference. Salt Lake City has 35% compliance, the highest in the nation, with their flag carrying crosswalks. I wonder what color flags they carry?
The girls had no issues about holding the flags.To them it was like a mini parade each time they crossed the street. However they would have preferred rainbow glitter flags instead of plain old yellow.