Chapel Hill Review

Town of Chapel Hill issued the following announcement on Mar. 2.

The Chapel Hill Police Department is planning an enhanced number of pedestrian safety enforcement operations this month, in addition to normal patrols. In February, the Department conducted 60 operations in an intensified effort to keep pedestrians safe. Officers cited a dozen drivers for various offenses. Scheduled special operations in March include – but are not limited to – the following dates:

• Friday, March 4, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• Saturday, March 5, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Thursday, March 10, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
• Sunday, March 13, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Friday, March 18, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Wednesday, March 23, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday, March 25, 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 31, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

*Dates and times are subject to change

Each effort will focus on areas with heavy pedestrian and bicycle traffic, including downtown, and mid-block crosswalks (ex. along the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Estes Drive corridors). We encourage everyone traveling, regardless of your mode of transportation, to remember that community safety is a shared responsibility.

The Chapel Hill Police Department is also planning three speed enforcement operations in March – in addition to normal patrols – with the main goal of improving safety for everyone who shares roads.

• Tuesday, March 8,  11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Tuesday, March 15, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.
• Tuesday, March 22, 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

*Dates and times are subject to change

Please use the following tips to improve safety for everyone on and near the roads:

• Limit distractions
• Phones down; eyes up (this is true for people driving, walking, riding a bike, and rolling)
• Keep your music at an appropriate level to hear what’s happening outside your car or around you
• Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks 
• State law says all vehicles must yield to pedestrians once they have safely entered a crosswalk
• Please use designated crosswalks to cross roads
• Walk against traffic; ride with traffic 
• People walking who don’t have access to sidewalks should walk in the opposite direction as traffic
• People riding bicycles should ride in a bike lane or in the same direction as traffic if there isn’t a designated path
• Bicycles are permitted to ride on the sidewalk except downtown (Franklin and Rosemary streets). Bicycles are permitted on sidewalks along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard outside the Chapel Hill Police Department as long as they are going in the same direction as traffic.

The Town will utilize its variable message sign (VMS) boards throughout Town to alert people driving of the events as well as encouraging them to limit distractions and watch out for people walking and people riding their bikes.

Vision Zero

On October 13, 2021, Chapel Hill’s Town Council adopted a Vision Zero Resolution, which states that traffic injuries and deaths are not inevitable “accidents” but preventable crashes and commits to eliminating them on Chapel Hill streets. View the resolution here.

Original source can be found here.