Lucas Kwiatkowski and Mayor Levine Cava take the inaugural walk across Main Highway at Fuller St. using the new “See Me Flags” safety program.
Friends of the Commodore Trail applaud community members who take action to make our streets safer. The following letter was shared by community member and safe streets advocate Kurt Kaminer in response to the new “See Me Flags” safety program in the Center Grove.
Dear Mayor Cava, Commissioner Pardo, and all CC’ed here:
For the record, I am addressing everyone here as Kurt Kaminer, a resident and safe streets advocate, acting on his own accord.
I just saw the Coconut Grove Spotlight’s article regarding the pedestrian flags brought forth by Lucas Kwiatkowski for Main Highway in Coconut Grove. I’m delighted glad to see that our elected officials are ready to support our youth when they come forth with ideas for safe streets, but I’m also equally concerned that Lucas appears to be supported only for his pedestrian flags, rather than the County and City committing – immediately – to bolster his call to action with all the infrastructure support possible.
I bring this up because of five concerns:
- The crossing in question is clearly dilapidated and has necessitated re-striping for visibility since at least 2021, per Google Maps. It’s a really terrible look that a 10-year-old has to hold up a flag for visibility when, right below him, there’s a high-intensity crosswalk which has fallen into disrepair.
- Actual design changes – a.k.a. the USDOT FHWA’s PedSafe Countermeasures – can provide immense safety improvements for people crossing the street. These countermeasures are very much absent from many of our streets, including at the intersection that Lucas has focused his efforts on. His efforts should be supplemented with a raised crosswalk or raised intersection. It could be very harming to his self-esteem if another incident were to happen after the installation of pedestrian flags and no other interventions; as such, every countermeasure possible should be put forth to bolster his efforts.
- I found this almost unbelievable: The Main Highway center turn lane just east of Commodore Plaza currently exists to provided dedicated left turning capacity into an alleyway. A median refuge island, or quick-build equivalent, should have been erected here as soon as possible after the initial crash that injured Kate Hamm. The fact that this alone hasn’t been solved since the incident in May cannot be excused, and solving it should be a key element of acknowledging Lucas’ call to action.
- While I’m sure DTPW engineers will claim the turn lanes in this area are “necessary for LOS” just like South Bayshore Drive, Main Highway in the BID area would be a lot safer with the removal of most of these existing turn lanes – thus making the street only two lanes to cross instead of three.
- This is not a criticism of Lucas, but an emphasis as to why supporting him with additional countermeasures is critical: The marginal effectiveness of pedestrian flags has been documented as far back as Seattle’s 2008 pilot program, which SDOT admits was a failure. What’s more, the combination of pedestrian flags without infrastructure is frequently ridiculed throughout North America; most notably by Vision Zero Vancouver with their alternative “Brick Safety” campaign (not actual bricks, of course). Obviously, nobody here should ever suggest to any young adult that their idea isn’t the most effective one possible, but by giving Lucas the oxygen of publicity without further infrastructure support could unwittingly make him a target of ridicule; after all, we’ve seen the lack of diplomacy over South Bayshore Drive as of recent. I don’t want to see Lucas become the peanut gallery’s target for doing the right thing.
Given that Lucas laudable efforts came forth from the emotional trauma of a completely preventable roadway injury, the County and City should support him above and beyond with a public commitment to improve the design of this intersection. This would prove that our Vision Zero program can actually take action to acknowledge and far surpass the expectations of our residents, especially a 10-year-old who has taken the initiative to solve the problem.
I cannot emphasize enough that it is extremely important to support young champions of safe streets – in every way possible.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Kurt Kaminer
Miami, Florida USA
P.S.: Side note: Your new hire of Mark Brown is someone absolutely capable of making the right things happen throughout Our County, if he is given the power to effect change. I have great respect for Mark and have high hopes for DTPW if his position allows him effectuate this change.
