Daylighting

Daylighting can be a simple and cost-effective way to make intersections safer for all users. Removing visual obstructions, widening corners, and implementing other simple interventions can promote greater awareness and facilitate eye contact between users. In recent years, the practice of daylighting has gained some traction. For example, the City of Hoboken in New Jersey effectively eliminated traffic deaths largely in part because of their daylighting efforts. Other major cities like San Francisco and Portland have also adopted daylighting initiatives.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) produced an extensive guide that describes and illustrates what daylighting can look like in urban areas. The guide is clear to note that road speeds should be proactively lowered near intersections and any sightline obstacles, such as trees or street furniture, should be removed from corners. Similarly, the City of Orlando offers a few easy and cost-effective tools for improving intersection safety. For example, they cite the use of flex posts (also referred to as delineator or candlestick posts) at intersections to separate bike lanes from car traffic. They also note that street parking should be pushed at least 20 feet away from any intersection to allow for greater visibility. There are dozens of other small interventions that can improve intersection safety, such as the installation of crosswalk art or additional street lighting.

In 2021, there were nearly 43,000 deaths related to motor vehicle traffic, a 10.5% increase from the number of fatalities in 2020 and the highest since 2005. Small and effective daylighting practices can go a long way to keeping pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists alike a bit safer on the roads.