YOUNGSTOWN — A 79-year-old Youngstown woman who came downtown Wednesday to visit to the Youngstown Water Department walked carefully across the intersection at Front and Phelps streets.

She was asked later if she knew how to interpret the bright yellow signage at that intersection showing two people walking together. Specifically, she was asked whether it suggested that pedestrians had the right of way to use the crosswalk when cars are coming down Front toward her.

The woman said she assumed the pedestrian had the right of way, but she never assumes too much about such matters. She summed up her attitude toward driving or walking in general as “Take your time. Don’t be in a hurry.”

No matter what she may think traffic signage is saying, she falls on the side of caution, she said. She not only takes her time, she tries to watch out for what other people might do. Whether she is in the right or not, being cautious can be the difference between being injured or not, she said.

The intersection at Front and Phelps streets appears to have only become confusing after new signage was added there about a month ago. The new signs show two different-sized people walking, suggesting that children could be crossing there.

There is a school near the intersection — the Lewis Center for Gifted Learning, which is located in Trinity United Methodist Church. But a school official told The Vindicator the school did not ask the city for any additional signage.

Over the past month or so, a Vindicator reporter has observed pedestrians preparing to cross Front Street at that intersection and starting to step onto the crosswalk with vehicles traveling down Front Street toward them, as if they thought the vehicular traffic should stop for them.

In watching drivers last week, however, most did not appear to think they should slow down or stop because of a pedestrian standing on the side of the road appearing to want to use the crosswalk.

One thing appears clear — a driver has an obligation to yield to a pedestrian when the pedestrian is in the crosswalk, regardless of whether there is signage. But the law may be less clear on whether a driver is obligated to stop when a person is standing on the side of the road waiting to cross at a crosswalk.

Lt. Robert Gentile, head of the Youngstown Police Department accident investigation unit, said a driver in that situation — seeing a person standing outside but near the crosswalk waiting to cross — would not get a ticket for failing to stop.

The intersection is close to the Mahoning County Courthouse and Youngstown Municipal Court, which is on the other side of Front Street from the county courthouse. The south side of Front Street near the municipal court also has several large parking lots and access to the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre.

NEW BEACONS

Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, was asked about the Front and Phelps crosswalk, and he acknowledged that the city has been “getting a few complaints here and there about” that crosswalk.

To address it, the city is “looking to put up some supplemental” crossing “beacons” at that intersection because of what appears to be confusion among drivers and pedestrians about what they should do, he said.

Shasho said there are several reasons for adding the new devices. Not only is that area along Front Street busy because of the amount of people walking, driving and using the courts, but it is also a corridor for people walking or driving to the amphitheater.

“I think there is enough pedestrian traffic there,” he said. “It’s really about the amphitheater. It’s a pedestrian corridor,” he said. “It’s supplemental. It’s not required,” he said of the new device.

The device is the same as one already in use at the intersection one block north of there, at Phelps and West Federal streets. It has “beacons” on several poles throughout the intersection with a button a pedestrian can push to activate a series of bright yellow warning lights. There are several of them at the intersection. Each one has blinking lights that are visible to pedestrians and vehicular traffic. They alert drivers that a pedestrian wants to cross the street in the crosswalk or alert them that a pedestrian is in the crosswalk.

“This project is obviously requiring some adjustments here and there,” Shasho said.

He was referring to the $27.65 million SMART 2 program of downtown street modernizations that have been going on for several years. Phelps and Front Streets received upgrades earlier, and Federal Street is still being completed. Shasho said there are no plans to change signage or add beacons in any other intersections downtown.

In talking about who has the right of way at the Phelps and Front streets intersection, Shasho said, “Where crosswalks exist, if a driver were to hit a pedestrian, they would be at fault right now,” Shasho said of a driver. “They are not jaywalking. They are crossing at an intersection,” he said of a pedestrian.

He seemed less certain about who has the right of way when the pedestrian is alongside the road attempting to enter the crosswalk.

Ohio law states that “When traffic control signals are not in place, not in operation, or are not clearly assigning the right-of-way, the driver of a vehicle … shall yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if need be to so yield … to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.”

GENTILE

Gentile explained that the police department has nothing to do with the yellow signs that were recently posted on Front Street, and those signs do not place any additional obligations on drivers passing through the intersection.

Common sense, of course, must prevail in any situation involving motorists and pedestrians, Gentile said. No matter what, be courteous to pedestrians, he said.

And the same holds true for pedestrians: “If you see a car coming (down Front Street) going 25 mph, don’t walk,” he said.

Gentile was aware that the “beacon” devices had been installed at the Phelps and Federal streets intersection and showed a reporter how they work.

The devices call attention to pedestrian traffic, but they do not affect who has the right of way. The blinking yellow lights on those devices do not give a pedestrian the right to cross in front of vehicular traffic, Gentile said.

One thing that does change the right of way is when lights are flashing red, he said. When lights are flashing red, that gives a pedestrian the right of way to walk across an intersection, Gentile said.

“Everything else is just a warning” to drivers to watch out for pedestrians, he said.

Gentile was told that in recent months pedestrians have been seen preparing to cross Front Street at Phelps Street in front of vehicles and starting across before realizing that the cars were not slowing down.

It’s not known whether any injuries have occurred there. But two people were injured in another crosswalk downtown in June.

A man was charged with failure to stop after an accident for hitting two pedestrians, ages 23 and 21, at the intersection of Vindicator Square and West Federal Street, according to a Youngstown police report.

The driver stopped briefly to ask if the two pedestrians were OK, then left the scene. He was not charged with any offense for hitting the pedestrians, only for leaving the scene. The pedestrians said they had the right of way, so they crossed the street, and a Malibu, which was stopped at a red light on West Federal Street, turned onto Vindicator Square, striking them, the report states.

The pedestrians suffered cuts on their knees and elbows, the police report states.

The pedestrians “had the right of way,” the police report states.

Have an interesting story? Contact Ed Runyan by email at erunyan@vindy.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.