By Jillian Ogawa
Armed with orange flags, pedestrians along University Ave. and Ninth East can walk a little safer.
'I think the flags are a great idea,' said junior Courtney Hansen, 23, a business major from Cardston, Alberta, Canada. 'This is a great solution without building traffic lights.'
Last weekend, the Provo traffic department installed flag holders at six crosswalks, three on Ninth East and two on University Ave. Pedestrians carry the flag as they cross the street to signal to oncoming traffic that they are crossing.
Hansen regularly uses the crosswalk by Deseret Towers and Y Mount and said he''s almost been hit three times. He has asked the city to turn on the flashing pedestrian lights, but most cars would not stop.
But now with the flags, he noticed that all the cars actually stop rather than speed by.
'The flags make it more official,' said Hansen. 'Cars notice it because they are big, bright and reflective.'
Last year, a car hit Amber Wall, 20, a junior film major from Dallas, Texas, while she was crossing a street near Ninth East. This past year, she was afraid it would happen again, but the orange flags make her excited to cross the once-feared street.
'Now that I carry an orange flag, someone will feel really bad if they hit me,' said Wall. 'Now there will be no ambiguity that I was crossing the street.'
Mike Mower, spokesperson for the Mayor''s office, said a couple of BYU students approached the mayor with concerns about now to safely cross University Avenue. They thought of the orange flags that were used in Salt Lake City during the Olympics, and now have applied the idea to Provo''s crosswalks.
'We realize that there are cross walks without traffic lights and traffic goes pretty fast,' said Mower. 'Our intent is to enhance pedestrian safety.'
Each flag holder can carry up to twelve flags, but six are distributed to each side. There are instructions at the flag posts of how pedestrians can use the flag to signal to drivers, but the instructions also using advise caution and good judgment.
The flags are reflective, so pedestrians can use them at night.
Tom Spindle, 22, a freshman pre-visual arts major from Arizona, said he thinks the flags are more useful at night because it is hard for cars to see people crossing in the evening.
There are also concerns someone may steal the flags or all the flags will end up on one side.
'We tried to make these flags so there isn''t special in taking them,' said Tom Peppler, Provo city public services manager. 'The penalty is just like stealing. It is especially bad because you are risking someone''s safety.'
Mower also said they also thought about the problem that all the flags may end up on one side, but they feel that people coming from different areas during the day may balance it out.
'We tend to believe that there are going to be more people coming from the east, come from the west in the evening,' he said.
Cities including Sandy, Spanish Fork and Berkley, Calif., have used the pedestrian flags at busy crosswalks. Mower said depending how well the flags are received, they might expand the flags to other crosswalks, unless they find the flags are not utilized and not helping out.
Flags are along Ninth East at the 450 N, 560 N and 1500 N crosswalks. They are also along University at crosswalks by Paul Reams Ave. and 1915 N. There is also one more at 300 W 500 N, Provo.