Halifax neighbourhood uses flags at busy crosswalk to boost safety

HALIFAX – One Halifax community is taking it upon itself to help make busy crosswalks safer in the wake of several recent vehicle-pedestrian collisions.

The intersection at Oxford Street and Cork Street has long been a problem for many nearby businesses and residents, but now there’s a new addition to the crosswalk — flags.

READ MORE: Driver charged after woman, 27, struck by truck in Halifax crosswalk

“We used to take four or five people with us just to be lookouts to get across the street with our children,” said Cherishe Husbands, director of Circle Time Friends Day Care.

She said police have been called to the intersection a number of times in the past because of close calls. A few weeks ago, the crosswalk safety flags were installed, and she said it has been the difference between life and death.

“It really is sad that in a community with humans, we need to resort to flags to cross the street,” she said. “It’s scary sometimes when we walk across…in other crosswalks without the flags because people aren’t always watching.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It really is sad that in a community with humans, we need to resort to flags to cross the street," she said. "It's scary sometimes when we walk across…in other crosswalks without the flags because people aren't always watching."

The intersection at Oxford Street and Cork Street is the first one in Halifax to have crosswalk flags, but it’s not a new idea. The community of Waverley has had crosswalk flags for nearly five years.

“Hopefully, they’ll start popping up everywhere,” said Norm Collins, a crosswalk safety advocate.

Collins creates the flag kits at a cost of $200 and he said the program is not for profit. Most of the crosswalk flags are funded by local businesses looking to make a difference.

The Golden Touch Barbershop on Oxford Street is funding the cost for the flags at the Oxford Street and Cork Street crosswalk, and the Circle Time Friends Daycare is pitching in.

“We bring them in at night, and we bring them out in the morning, and the children love using them,” said Husbands. “We teach them safety, and they need to know that these cars aren’t always looking, so you have to be.”

She said the crosswalk flags work, and she would like to see them at all crosswalks in the area.

Jennifer Stairs, a spokesperson for the city, said people are allowed to install the crosswalk flags and use them.

“City council has endorsed the use of those crosswalk flags in the region as long as there’s no cost to the municipality,” she said. “That means that if individuals or community groups want to take on fundraising for that, they have our blessing to do so.”

Stairs said the city currently has no plans to implement its own crosswalk flag program.

“We’re on the fence I guess, about how successful they are, because they aren’t as successful as some people might think in other areas,” she said. “We’re allowing them to be used and we’re stopping at that at this point.”