Sign Change Yields Clearer Message

Jason Lumpkin delivered a message Thursday to drivers who would rather not run over pedestrians.

Lumpkin, who works for the city’s transportation and traffic department, installed a new sign at the eastern southbound corner of Elm and Orange Street informing turning drivers to yield to cross-walkers.

A similar sign went up at the catty corner Elm side of the block.

That might not seem like a big deal … unless you’ve ever tried to cross that intersection, which has heavy car traffic and no crosswalk signal.

This is what the wordy old sign looked like. Drivers racing down Orange would need to slam on the brakes and take it all in to get the message in time before flattening a human.

Sandeep Aysola, who runs the transportation and traffic bureau, had noticed the problem with the old sign. So he ordered up the new one as part of a broader ongoing pedestrian-friendly reworking of downtown intersections. A similar new sign went up at Chapel and High Streets as part of broader pedestrian safety work at that intersection.

“People have very little time to read stuff” when they’re driving, Aysola noted. Presenting them with the seven-word former message could actually distract them and make the road less safe.

Besides conveying the message more simply, the new signs have a yellow background as well as a red symbol. That’s easier to read than the previous black-and-white design, especially in daytime, Aysola said.

A similar changeover from the old to the new signs is in the works for the intersections of Temple and Grove (westbound) and of Whitney and Trumbull (southbound).

The eventual plan is to put a pedestrian walk button at intersections like Elm and Orange. That’s a longer process, involving rewiring and regulatory review and new signals. Updating the signs seemed like ​“low-hanging fruit” in the meantime, Aysola said.