New Avent Ferry Road crosswalks aim to make drivers and walkers safer along busy stretch
If you drive down Avent Ferry Road in Raleigh, you may have noticed new crosswalks.
These crosswalks are a little different. They are called high-intensity activated crosswalks or HAWKS.
The surrounding stretch of Avent Ferry gets pretty busy.
"It's bad," said Derrick Evans, who lives near the crosswalks. "It's a lot of traffic all the time."
The busiest time of day is usually from 11 a.m. to noon.
"We counted the number of people who were crossing here before the signals went in and we were getting 40 to 50 people in the busiest hour so we knew we needed to do something there," said Raleigh Traffic Safety Engineer Shane McCarthy.
WRAL Data Trackers looked at police crash data and found 28 crashes on Avent Ferry involving pedestrians since 2015. Approximately 75% of those crashes happened where there wasn't a crossing signal or stop sign.
HAWK lights utilize two familiar concepts in the walk signal and the red light.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, HAWK LIGHTS reduce pedestrian crashes by 55%, reduce total crashes by 29% and reduce serious injury and fatal crashes by 15%.
"If you don't have something there it takes a long time to wait for all those cars to get across the street," said Evans.
HAWKS have been placed on Avent Ferry at Brigadoon Drive and Centennial View Lane.
Evans has been in the area for two years and he said the crosswalks have made it easier to cross the street, but one problem persists.
"People, they don't pay attention to it," said Evans. "They don't stop, so when you cross over you have to still look."
There are bus stops on either side of the crosswalk on Avent Ferry, making it a popular place to cross.
NC Department of Transportation helped fund, design and install HAWKS. There are 20 in Raleigh.
