Wow, what a great idea.

Hopefully, no peds get plowed down while looking at the crosswalk to see what it says (rather than at traffic that is looking at their text-messaging screen instead of the road ahead)!

"Highly provocative," indeed.

Yes, most of the pedestrians in the video seemed more interested in the crosswalk than watching for cars... Maybe they should print "WATCH FOR CARS" on every line instead.

I like the idea but I agree with Garlynn and Matthew that it is potentially distracting for pedestrians.

What about leaving the standard "zebra" crossing markings unchanged in the street, but extend them out on the sidewalks as names/memorials, so you can notice and read them _before_ crossing the street?

- Bob R.

I thought it was motorists who were supposed to watch out for pedestrians when they were in the crosswalk.

Ross -

You are absolutely correct.

However, I think the concern about pedestrians stopping to read the memorial names relates to the following scenario: A pedestrian sees a distant, oncoming car, and judges that there is enough time to cross (even if the motorist doesn't see them.) Then, after stepping out into the lane, the pedestrian notices the names and is distracted and remains in the lane to read the names. This greatly increases the chance that an errant motorist will hit the pedestrian.

- Bob R.

I think you are missing the point of the installation, Bob...

Eh, is the point of the installation to stop traffic by causing hordes of pedestrians to stop in the middle of the crosswalk to read the text... while hoping that, in doing so, the list of names for inclusion in the text doesn't get added to? ;-)

I don't miss the point of the installation. I applaud it. Good job.

I was just making a snarky comment about the irony of a pedestrian being mowed down while standing in a crosswalk reading a list of names of pedestrians being mowed down while in a crosswalk.

Um, isn't it just a bunch of names? No one is going to stop and read every one of them. It's simply the quantity of them that is startling. Names are names. The real message is on the curbs.