About a month ago, The Crease picked up a story about a new pedestrian safety project in DC, namely, the use of bright orange pedestrian flags at DC intersections:

WASHINGTON -- D.C. transportation officials are posting bright orange flags at intersections without traffic lights in hopes of saving lives.

They say pedestrians who grab the flags have an easier time getting drivers to see them and stop for them. Some pedestrians walk by without noticing the flags are there to use. Those who do grab the flags say they see a difference.

I've just had the opportunity to see one off these flags in use, and I too notice a difference - but the difference that I witnessed was not one of increased pedestrian safety, instead it was one of increased pedestrian carelessness and recklessness.

I saw a woman grab one of these pedestrian "safety" flags at an uncontrolled intersection along NW DC's Connecticut Avenue at about 6pm. For those unfamiliar with DC traffic patterns, Connecticut Avenue is one of the busiest streets in the entire District, especially around 6pm - it's 6 lanes of traffic, and is so heavily travelled that during peak times each day, one of the lanes "reverses direction" such that a full four lanes runs either into or out of the city. Like I said, it's a really busy street. Well, this woman proceeds to grab an orange flag, tuck it UNDER her arm, then carelessly amble out into the road to cross the street, pushing a BABY IN A STROLLER in front of her. She made no attempt to wait for traffic to clear, and didn't even LOOK to see if any traffic was coming. She just pushed her baby right into the middle of one of the busiest streets in all of Washington at one of the busiest times in all of Washington, without bothering to exercise any sort of care or caution whatsoever. Because this woman had a big orange flag tucked away under her arm, she thought she would be safe. She mistakenly thought that her orange flag was the equivalent of an Abrams tank.

Thank the Lord, both woman and baby were able to get across the street unharmed, though many cars were forced to screech to a halt as the intersection erupted with the shrill of countless drivers laying on their horns. The woman just clueless and carelessly careened across Connecticut, with something of an annoyed gesture on her face as she stared at the cars honking at her, as if to say "Hey, buddy, I have a flag!"

Whether the pedestrian flag idea will prove to be success or not, I can't say. But for at least this woman, the flag was just another way for her to recklessly throw personal responsibility out the window and foolishly trust that governent flag program would magically keep her and her child safe.

I feel really sorry for that kid.