""Pride on the streets!" Mayor Ken Welch wrote in a joint Instagram post with the city's official account on Thursday, calling the new installment "a vibrant way to honor the Pride street murals that were removed earlier this year due to state requirements.""
"U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered states to eliminate rainbow crosswalks and other "distractions" in July in a supposed effort to prevent traffic fatalities. He did not provide evidence linking decorated crosswalks to traffic fatalities, but acknowledged that estimated traffic fatalities declined by 3.8 percent from 2023 to 2024 under the Biden administration."
"There is no evidence that rainbow crosswalks cause more accidents. To the contrary, increased visibility from decorated crosswalks led to a 37 percent drop in collisions resulting in injuries, a 50 percent reduction in incidents involving pedestrians, and a 17 percent fall in the total crash rate, according to a 2022 study from Bloomberg."
St. Petersburg installed 11 Pride-inspired bike racks along Central Ave and 25th Street through the city's public bike rack program. The bike racks provide a public display of LGBTQ+ Pride while adhering to state and federal orders that require crosswalks to remain undecorated. Mayor Ken Welch promoted the installation as "Pride on the streets" and described it as a vibrant way to honor removed Pride street murals. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered removal of rainbow crosswalks citing traffic safety without presenting evidence. A 2022 Bloomberg study found decorated crosswalks correlated with reduced collisions and pedestrian incidents.
Read at Advocate.com
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