The following application was submitted by a sixth grade research team from Clara Barton Open School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The team members were Caitlin S., Lynn S., Caitlin C., and Peter H.. Their project was a national finalist in 1997.
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Tackling Traffic Troubles
Section 1: Identifying The Community Issue
The Problem our sixth-grade team is working on deals with drivers who run red lights on Lyndale Avenue. This major avenue passes through a residential and commercial community with homes, schools, and parks on either side. Thirty neighborhood children must cross Lyndale to walk to our school, Clara Barton Open. Unsafe driving practices on Lyndale Avenue split this community by discouraging pedestrians and cross traffic. If driving practices improve, it will bring the community together and contribute to the safety and well-being of its residents.
This traffic issue is significant for many reasons:
1) Traffic is a danger to school walkers, adult pedestrians, and people waiting for buses.
2) It is a danger to people driving to work and driving children to school.
3) It is also a danger to school bus drivers and students riding buses, since some school buses must take Lyndale Avenue or cross it on their way to and from schools.
Through study and collecting data at two corners on this busy street, we found that nine to twenty-five cars run a red light every hour. To put that in a larger perspective, between 216 and 600 cars could be running red lights at these corners on Lyndale Avenue daily.
Aggressive driving creates problems now and in the future. As the population
increases more people will be driving. If we don't find a way to solve the
running of red lights soon, there will be more accidents as more automobile
drivers run red lights and this behavior becomes more of a habit.
Cars are going so fast through the major intersections of Lyndale and 43rd,
as well as Lyndale and 48th, that it looks less like a city street and more
like an on-ramp for the freeway.
Section 2: Community-Based Research
The following graph summarizes the average number of cars that run red lights in selected one-hour periods. It also tells where and when cars run red lights.
Running Red Lights
Where And When Cars Running Red Lights
6:30 - 7:30am
43rd & Lyndale 9
6:30 - 7:30am
48th & Lyndale 10
2:00-3:00pm
43rd & Lyndale 18
2:00-3:00pm
48th & Lyndale 17
4:00-5:00pm
43rd & Lyndale 19
4:00-5:00pm
48th or Lyndale 20
Our method to collect the data for this graph was to have people at the intersections of 43rd and 48th and Lyndale at three different times during the day, 6:30 7:30 a.m., 2-3 p.m., and 4-5 p.m. Team members had observational tasks. One counted the cars which went through the red light. If the car entered the intersection after the light turned red, we counted it as running the red light. Another job was to tally all the cars that went through the intersection. Our group took turns recording Lyndale Avenue data for eight days, three hours per day at each intersection. We recorded data at two corners so that we could compare them to each other. As the graph on page 2 shows, drivers were more likely to run red lights during the early evening rush hour (4-5 p.m.) than in the early morning (6:30-7:30 a.m.) or at school dismissal time (2-3 p.m.).
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
The following people have especially helped us with our project.
Sarah Linnes-Robinson Tangletown Neighborhood Revitalization Project (NRP) Coordinator.
At our first meeting in October, Sarah helped our team define traffic issues as a problem in our community. She suggested that we talk with people from the police and traffic management departments.
Gary Bjorjo and Mike Mohnahan. Traffic Engineers for the Minneapolis Police Department.
In an interview, Gary told us what the traffic problems are, that the speed limit is 30 mph, and what the Minneapolis Police Department has done on Lyndale concerning traffic calming. Gary then connected us with Mike. Mike, at our request, agreed to write letters to people who ran red lights at 43rd and Lyndale when we provided him with license plate numbers.
Pore Mead. Ward 11 City Council Representative, and Scott Miller Assistant to Dore Mead.
We received information and a plan from a previous Lyndale Community Task Force that described neighborhood opinions on how traffic could be calmed on Lyndale Avenue. Councilperson Mead gave us names of people and organizations to call to receive additional details on the Lyndale Avenue redesign plan and how we can fit into it. Later after seeing the article about this project in the Southwest Journal (see page 9), she sent us a letter congratulating us on our efforts. She enclosed an eight-page version of a Lyndale Avenue plan developed by a Task Force representing the neighborhoods and business associations along the Avenue.
Cathy and Glen Sando, Anne Lucasse. and Ken Hepburn/ Team Mentors.
Cathy helped us identify the problem corners near our school community.
She gave us warmth and encouragement on those cold, early mornings of tallying.
She opened her home for some of our meetings and made phone calls to set
up appointments for us when we could not reach certain key people. Glen,
Cathy's husband, helped by editing our work. Ken helped with the editing
and also helped us design the study. Anne connected us with Dore Mead and
Sarah Linnes Robinson. She also brought us to NRP meetings where we received
information on what other neighborhoods near Lyndale Avenue have done to
solve their traffic problems.
Section 3: Testing The Proposed Solution
The team's proposed solution to the problem of drivers running red lights was to alert drivers to upcoming stop lights by standing half a block from the light, wearing a bright poncho and holding up a large bright orange STOP AHEAD sign. We hoped drivers would slow down if we stood midway between 43rd and 44th streets and between 48th and 49th streets on Lyndale Avenue. We tested our solution only during the 2:00-3:00 p.m. period. We collected these data for three hours on each corner in exactly the same manner we had used to document the problem originally. The data were compared and the differences were recorded.
Running Red Lights With Sign
Where And When Average Number of Cars
Running Red Lights In One Hour
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
43rd & Lyndale 2
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
48th & Lyndale 3
At the beginning of brainstorming a solution, we had two concerns:
1) That we couldn't find an effective solution, and
2) That none of our solutions would increase awareness and calm traffic once tested.
All the solutions we brain stormed had to do with one thing, communication. Our communication solutions were, signage newspaper articles, information on an Internet website, television and radio public service announcements. We decided to test signage.
Standing outside, in sometimes sub-zero weather, in the middle of winter, we tested our solution. We spent three hours, on separate days, on the comers of 43rd and 48th and Lyndale, for a total of six hours. In light of the dramatic reduction in the number of drivers running red lights when we held up our sign, our team felt confident that the data supported our hypothesis that additional signage would decrease red light running. We concluded that improved communication and heightened community awareness will indeed help to decrease the number of red lights run on these two comers of Lyndale Avenue.
We realize that school age children holding up signs is at best a temporary solution to this problem. However with support from the Bayer/NSF program, we could make a more long-term solution, including permanent signage. We could initiate a traffic safety program along the Lyndale corridor involving other schools and community organizations.
Section 4: How The Solution Works
Our solution is communication which alerts more drivers to traffic signals and to the dangers of running red lights. Right now you can barely see speed limit signs, so a lot of drivers don't know how fast they are supposed to go. We would recommend larger and more frequent posting of speed limits. If we have a STOP AHEAD sign, drivers are more likely to be prepared to stop at a red light. If there is a SCHOOL CROSSINGS sign, then maybe drivers will be more aware of pedestrians, especially students walking to and from school.
Our team's solution will prevent accidents from occurring for both drivers and pedestrians living in our community. The presence of signs will remind drivers to slow down when coming to an intersection. If drivers slow down they will be more aware of the stop lights and more able to stop. We will see fewer red lights run and a decrease in the number of accidents.
We have already gained quite a lot of support for our project. We have been acknowledged by city council representatives, have gained the respect of members of the community, and have been thanked by the police. These are the steps we are going to take to gain additional support for our work:
Step 1: Present our data at the Lyndale Community Traffic Task Force open meeting.
Step 2: Create public service announcements for television and radio.
Step 3: Contact school administrators/student councils at other schools along the Lyndale corridor.
Step 4: Explore the possibilities of using local media websites and newspapers to publicize and increase awareness of the problem.
Our team has run into obstacles that have forced us to redirect our efforts to solve this problem. For the type of project that our team is working on there are:
1) safety issues
2) price limitations
3) equipment that is needed, but not available, and
4) the time and dedication of the team.
Our team's first idea for solving this traffic problem was to hang a banner, which would say "STOP ON RED, SLOW ON YELLOW." It was to have been hung across Lyndale Avenue and would have been double sided, waterproof, and have red lettering on a white back ground. The price of the banner proved to be the first problem to implementing this plan. Our team spent two hours going through the phone book looking for companies that provided what we needed in a banner for a price under one hundred dollars. We found a suitable banner in our price range, and our coach, M.J. Savaiano, located the company and arranged for pickup. However, the traffic department wouldn't let us put up the banner because they felt it would be a distraction to drivers. So we needed a new idea to solve our problem. That's when a member from our team noticed an article in the paper about the Speed Wagons, a large machine which, when you drive by it, registers your speed and shows it on a view screen. We called to find more information on the Speed Wagons and found there was a waiting list. The city has put in a request to use the speed wagon on the most troublesome corners.
We were lucky enough to get an article in The Southwest Journal, a community newspaper. After the article was out, it seemed that more people noticed us and slowed down. Because of this we think that a monthly article in the Journal would help to increase the community awareness of the problem.