Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts

In a purported effort to reduce traffic fatalities, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has directed states to remove “rainbow crosswalks” — “even though a 2022 Bloomberg study showed that multi-colored "asphalt art" actually cuts crashes between motorists and vulnerable road users by 50 percent on average.”

Writing in Streetsblog USA, Kea Wilson notes that Duffy’s letter to state governors sought to address traffic deaths on arterial roads — not the smaller neighborhood roads usually home to multicolored crosswalks. “Moreover, advocates pointed out that many American arterials are sorely lacking in any crosswalks at all, nevermind ones that double as horizontal murals.”

Although some critics of non-traditional crosswalks say they could decrease safety, evidence shows that brighter, more colorful crosswalk treatments can actually improve safety. “Many advocates have actually pushed to add rainbow crosswalks to the list of recommended markings in the MUTCD because of their potential to save lives, along with other revisions like prompting traffic engineers to install more frequent and better-protected crosswalks on neighborhood arterials.”