Flagging Orlando's Red Flag Idea

You got to be kidding me.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Pedestrians trying to cross a busy intersection can wave bright red flags to alert vehicles to stop.

Pedestrians who want to cross the street can pick a tennis-racket-size flag out of baskets now kept on both sides of the street. They wave them as they cross the street, alerting traffic, and drop them in the basket on the other side.

The street was chosen for the experiment because it has no stoplight or stop sign to slow traffic and four pedestrians have been injured there in the past three years, the Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday.

And red flags are suppose to make pedestrians safer. The article notes that Orlanda has a pedestrian death rate twice the national average. Have city officials considered stop signs at dangerous intersections? A crazy idea like that might save lives.