Every Day is Flag Day

With mounting evidence that America's streets are becoming increasingly perilous for pedestrians, cities across the country are searching for ways to make them safer. In Spanish Fork, Utah, the solution is a $500 self-flagging sidewalk system.

The approach is straightforward, if not high-tech: Two wooden flag holders containing 12 flags apiece are stationed on opposite sides of an intersection. Pedestrians take a flag, wave it at oncoming traffic to signal their intentions and cross when the vehicles have yielded, depositing the flag on the other side of the street.

So far, self-flagging is available at only one intersection on Spanish Fork's busy Main Street. But for this city of 20,000 in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, tourism is inextricably linked to safe strolling. "We were losing shoppers because the traffic on Main Street was so scary," says Teresa Ahlin, a member of the Chamber of Commerce's executive board who spearheaded installation of the flagging system.

The situation hasn't changed overnight, however. The town is easing into the system, as pedestrians become bolder in their flag-flapping, and motorists become more attuned. "It's going to take time to catch on," says Ahlin.

And it seems that some people are absconding with the flags, which are bright orange and sport the Chamber of Commerce logo, as souvenirs. In just over a month, 35 of the original 100 flags disappeared.

Ahlin says that the city anticipated that happening, and she considers it a small price to pay for the simplicity and low cost of the system. In fact, a city councilman made the wooden flag holders himself, free of charge. Flashing crosswalk lights would have cost the city thousands of dollars.