New traffic signals make it safer for pedestrians

I hope that the ones mentioned to be installed in Georgia are located in Decatur.  Read more of the USA Today online article here.

New traffic signals make it safer for pedestrians

By Mike Chalmers, USA TODAY

As a freshman at the University of Delaware, Caitlin Gormley had to dash across a busy two-lane road to reach her Introduction to Animal Science lab on a research farm south of campus.

"I tried once on my bike, but I felt uncomfortable so I stopped after that," said Gormley, 20, now a junior pre-veterinary medicine major who drives to the farm. "It was pretty scary."

A new kind of traffic signal in Delaware, the High-intensity Activated Cross Walk, or HAWK, became active Friday and will make crossing Delaware 72 safer for students beginning this semester, state transportation officials say.

Delaware joins a growing number of states and cities around the country, including Georgia, Minnesota, Virginia and Arizona, with HAWK signals that allow people to cross a busy road, either at an intersection without a standard traffic signal or in the middle of a long stretch of road.

Several are scheduled to be installed in Georgia, in and around Atlanta, this month. Tempe, Ariz., added them in February.

Read on here.