City of Tucson Traffic Engineering says that this is an approved design that will now be expanded even further across the City. Apparently there are studies that show in general it is safer to not paint crosswalks; the City of Tucson argues pedestrians tend to "let their guard down" when inside a painted crosswalk and tend to not pay attention thus get struck more often than when crossing the street in an unmarked/unpainted crosswalk. It is a driver's duty to yield to a pedestrian crossing the roadway at an intersection even if there are no lines painted (unmarked crosswalks) However, I disagree with the City's policy of not painting the roadway where there should clearly be marked crosswalks. Not repainting crosswalks that were previously painted before roadwork was completed is a bad idea I believe. Not everyone is familiar with the ins and outs of traffic vs. pedestrian law and it seems to me that everyone understands marked crosswalks a whole lot better than unmarked areas. Citizens in general are "used to" how marked crosswalks work and not so much with unmarked. In my opinion, marked crosswalks seem to be a safer alternative than running across the street with unmarked pavement even if the pedestrian is legally correct.

Should you care to comment on the City's policy of converting more and more marked crosswalks to unmarked crosswalks, please call City of Tucson Traffic Engineering's Deahn Swartz at 791-4259. Tucson Police Traffic Enforcement Division can be reached at 791-4440 if you feel like further discussing traffic law and to get TPD's view on converting marked crosswalks to unmarked. More and more pedestrians are dying in Tucson; I am wondering if it has anything to do with the City of Tucson's Traffic Engineering design policies or perhaps due to the Transportation Department not maintaining street lights? There are tons of lights all over the City and it is very dark where it should not be.