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Crosswalk Flags
Pedestrian InRoads volunteers are putting up crosswalk flags.
Support efforts to make Seattle and the rest of the world safe for walking!
You can help make Seattle safer:
- Use the flags.
- Teach other people how to use the flags.
- Flag your own intersections.
Below are instructions for how to get flags and make your own flag buckets. Every step is straightforward, and the materials are inexpensive.
crossingflags.googlepages.com has instructions for obtaining flags and making buckets. There is a wealth of detailed information at that site, and we have a few additional comments:
- You can do this! This is pretty easy to do. There are several different bucket styles around town, and they all work about equally well. Look at an existing bucket for ideas.
- This project costs between $10 and $15 per crosswalk, depending on materials. You can do the whole thing in a few hours.
- You can download our bucket label as a word file or a pdf file.
- We decided not to print detailed instructions on the bucket for how to use the flags. It's probably safest to let people use the flags to aid the normal way they cross a street.
- We used PSP (polystyrene) pipe instead of PVC pipe for our buckets. PSP is cheaper and probably more durable than PVC, but either seems to work fine. Several different groups have used each.
- We used pipe grating caps instead of regular pipe caps on some of our buckets, because the store we went to ran out of the 4" caps. The gratings work great and it's less work since you don't need to drill out the caps, but caps work nearly as well and are a little cheaper. Either way is fine.
- Use the big 3/4" wide wire ties. They are really, really strong.
- You can get the pipe and wire ties at most hardware stores.
- Many safety stores and websites sell the flags. You can make your own, but the store-bought ones are inexpensive and durable. Get extra, to replace the flag that occasionally disappears. A good rule of thumb is to put 6 flags at a crosswalk, and have two replacements.
- We used "Rite in the Rain" 8511 All weather writing paper for our bucket labels. This paper can be printed with an ordinary laser printer or copier. (You can't print on it with an inkjet printer, but you should not use an inkjet printer anyway.) Since the label will eventually get wet no matter what you do, we think this is the best material for labels.
- We covered the labels with Avery 73602 Self-adhesive laminating sheets to reduce fading of the label from sunlight, then wrapped the whole thing in packing tape to make the labels harder to remove. Using just packing tape might work almost as well, but the laminating sheet gives a more elegant look.
- Tape a label to the flag handle, put a sticker on the flag, stamp a logo on the flag, or write something on the handle. If you put something official-looking that is associated with street crossing, people will probably leave the flags where they are, and not take them for other purposes.
- You can flag the crosswalk in the name of someone. If someone you know has been killed or injured as a pedestrian, flag a crosswalk in their name. (It doesn't have to be anywhere near where they were hit, but flagging an actual crosswalk where someone was hit makes a better story.)
- Visit your crosswalk every once and a while. Add new flags as they are needed. The buckets should last for years, and flags seem to disappear only very slowly.
- After you're all done, teach a friend how to flag crosswalks.
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