LEXINGTON, Ky. — The City of Lexington is taking significant steps to enhance pedestrian safety with the implementation of smartphone technology for drivers. Using the Waze navigation app, drivers will receive alerts when approaching school zones or mid-block pedestrian crossings throughout the city.
The initiative, announced by David Filiatreau, traffic engineer manager for Lexington, aims to increase awareness and protection for pedestrians. “It’s just an alert, generally an audible alert if you’re hooked up to your sound system so it’s nothing you’ll have to do. It’ll come up automatically,” Filiatreau explained.
Currently, Lexington features 51 school zones and 49 mid-block crossings, which are crosswalks not positioned at signalized intersections. These mid-block crossings are crucial for pedestrian access to popular destinations, such as grocery stores and parks. Filiatreau highlighted the importance of these alerts in ensuring safe pedestrian crossings. “It’s a beacon or pedestrian-activated beacon; they can hit it whenever it’s needed and it’ll come on, alert the driver, and they can cross,” he said.
This new alert system utilizes technology that the city has already partnered with Waze to monitor and control. The alerts in the Waze app act as an additional measure of protection for pedestrians. “There are physical improvements that we try to make at different intersections, the beacons themselves are a layer of protection. If we can get to drivers specifically—which is what Waze was designed for—that’s just another layer that can hopefully prevent any sort of interaction between a pedestrian and a vehicle,” Filiatreau noted.
Pedestrian safety remains a top priority for traffic engineers in urban settings. Filiatreau emphasized the need for both pedestrians and vehicles to coexist safely on the streets. “In an urban environment, you’re going to see a lot more pedestrians, so they have just as much of a right to walk and move safely as bikes and vehicles,” he stated.
This feature is currently exclusive to Waze users in Lexington and is not available on other navigation apps. Although Waze is a subsidiary of Google, Filiatreau clarified that the city has no jurisdiction over the potential inclusion of similar alerts in Google Maps.
As the City of Lexington continues to innovate in traffic safety measures, the integration of smartphone technology into everyday driving may help significantly reduce accidents and improve safety for its residents.
