Title
Resolution to Improve Pedestrian Safety at Crosswalks with Reliable Illumination in the Short Term and Optimal LED Streetlights Within 5 Years
Body
Whereas, Illumination at crosswalks is critical to pedestrian safety and a key component of a pedestrian-friendly community;
Whereas, The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reports that in 2018, 76 percent of pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. occurred in dark conditions. (Pedestrians, 2018 Data. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812850)
Whereas, In the last five years in Ann Arbor the lack of illumination at a crosswalk was a direct contributor to one pedestrian fatality and poor illumination was a contributor to one very serious injury pedestrian crash;
Whereas, Ann Arbor staff encourages residents to report streetlight outages on the City website and the A2 Fix It mobile application. This process is effective for residential areas. It is not effective in the downtown and campus area, nor on main corridors where dozens of streetlights go unreported until it is a crisis;
Whereas, City and DTE senior staff have participated in and authorized special "nighttime audits" by driving around and reporting outages when the situation rises to a crisis level;
Whereas, In December 2021, there are dozens of unreported streetlights outages, repeating the crisis conditions of previous years;
Whereas, DTE provides approximately 66% of the streetlights in the City of Ann Arbor, with the remaining owned and maintained by the City of Ann Arbor;
Whereas, The University of Michigan owns and maintains pedestrian lighting on their property next to the sidewalk, but this lighting is not adequate to illuminate crosswalks;
Whereas, LED streetlights use less energy, have a longer life span, and are less costly to maintain than high-pressure sodium (HPS) conventional "cobra head" streetlights; and
Where...
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