Richmond spent $300K on pedestrian signs drivers kept hitting
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What some of the beat-up signs used to look like. Photo: Ned Oliver/Axios
Those bright-yellow pedestrian safety signs that were repeatedly flattened by Richmond drivers — sometimes within 24 hours of being put up — may be coming back, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The beat-up signs became a representation of Richmond's reckless driving culture, and advocates and city officials tell Axios that the attention they generated is proof the campaign worked.
Catch up quick: Richmond began installing the "Stop for Pedestrians" signs at 55 intersections in 2021.
- It was part of an effort to raise awareness of a 2020 Virginia law requiring drivers to stop, not just yield, for pedestrians in both marked and unmarked crosswalks.
- Drivers ran the signs over so often that the city had to replace them three to four times before stopping last year, city spokesperson Paige Hairston told Axios.
The cost: About $300,000, or $75,000 per round, in state and federal funds. A cost breakdown wasn't available.
Zoom in: Over the years, the battered signs prompted social media jokes, an account documenting where they'd been hit, and frustration among some residents who saw them as wasted money.
- But "for such a low cost, the number of stories and social media posts to bring awareness to the law … has been a huge success," Hairston said.
The latest: With the other pedestrian safety improvements on West Main and Cary streets, like the added speed humps and curb bump-outs, the signs may return, Hairston said. She didn't share a timeline.
- VCU is rolling out its own version at three key campus crossings — Cary and Madison, Main and Monroe, and on Floyd — for about $2,800, said VCU Police spokesperson Jake Burns.
- VCU is in the process of hiring a contractor to install them, but Burns said the idea to add them came from community feedback.
What we're watching: The city has taken more aggressive action to eliminate traffic-related fatalities citywide in recent years.
- But former City Councilman Andreas Addison, who pushed for a city Department of Transportation in 2022, told Axios that the bent signs showed a structural issue in how Richmond has tackled transportation safety.
- "The answer to it isn't going to be a one-off solution," he said. "It's a systemic organizational shift to meet the needs of this problem and solve it moving forward."
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