From: Jolinda Smiar
Taylorsville
I have seen a lot of conversation on Facebook about the crosswalk in front of the sheriff’s department. This is a topic that comes up for conversation every year about this same time or close to it. One thing that never seems to be put in front of the community is that Second Street is a state highway. It is State Road 46, and therefore the state of Indiana is the one who decides what kind of crosswalk gets put up on that stretch of road.
As I said, this discussion comes around every year about the same time, and every year the same thing happens: INDOT investigates and decides that there is not a need for lights at that cross walk. INDOT tells the county that the crosswalk has not been properly put in the right spot, and that the cost for the lighted crosswalk would have to come from the county and it would cost an astronomical amount of money. And every year, the county council and INDOT tuck the request away and look at it again in another year.
With all this being said, I am not condemning the sheriff for wanting a safe passage for visitors of the jail or for staff. I am not condemning the community for wanting a safe passage for visitors and jail staff. I am just wanting it to be clear all sides of the coin in this matter.
Everyone likes to bring up the crosswalks that are on Brown Street in front of the Cummins offices. If those crossings can have the lights, why can’t the crosswalk in front of the sheriff’s office? First, Brown Street is not a state highway. It is a downtown street and easier work around the red tape of installing the lights. Second, Cummins paid for those lights at their crosswalks. Cummins also makes it a point to stress to its employees how to use the crosswalks properly. However, those lights and the increased safety talks does not stop traffic from disobeying the signals, or for people completely ignoring the signals themselves and just walk out in front of cars.
No matter how big the lights are and how bright they flash, that cannot stop and will not stop people from simply ignoring the signals. What I put in this next sentence is going to upset many readers but it is the God’s honest truth. No-one can fix stupid and no 10-foot blinking red light is going to stop the next idiot from blowing through a crosswalk, no matter if it is in front of the jail or in front of the high school.
If the jail is not deterrent enough for people to slow down and wait for people to cross a road, then who expects those same people to stop for a crossing signal in front of the same jail they just blew past two days ago?
