Block the crosswalk? Brazilians will lift your car

Pedestrians

Block the crosswalk? Brazilians will lift your car

by Matt Johnson • September 6, 2012 2:50 pm

When inconsiderate motorists stop their cars in the crosswalk, pedestrians are often forced to walk dangerously close to traffic or navigate raised islands to get across the street. The Rotary Club in the Brazilian city of Florianópolis came up with an innovative solution: a team of people to move the car out of the way.

Such an effort might face a bit of an obstacle in the United States, thanks to our obsession with large SUVs. But if 8 athletic (and jiu-jitsu-trained) Brazilians aren't around to clear the crosswalk for you, you can always fall back on the tried and true method: stink-eye. Or traffic cameras.

Thanks to The Atlantic Cities for bringing this video to our attention.

14 comments

Tags: Brazil, crosswalks, enforcement, video

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Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington region since mid-2007. He has a Master's degree in Community Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He has worked in the planning field since 2006 and lives in Greenbelt, where he serves on the city's Advisory Planning Board.

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If you didn't tell me where it was I wouldn't have felt bad guessing that this was florida (because of the palm trees).

by drumz on Sep 6, 2012 3:01 pm • link • report

That was satisfying to watch.

by Gavin on Sep 6, 2012 3:28 pm • link • report

I would love to be able to do that.

I fantasize about paying back in kind, but standing in front of a car as a pedestrian......

by Jasper on Sep 6, 2012 4:37 pm • link • report

I'd like to see that in India.

by movement on Sep 6, 2012 4:41 pm • link • report

Often in the back of my mind I think "surely if you're stopped in the crosswalk you couldn't complain if I were to walk on your car."

This would be nice too.

by Lucre on Sep 6, 2012 4:44 pm • link • report

#1 It takes 8 Brazilian people to move a car out of the crosswalk.
#2 That's a lot of people. Wait, home many is a Brazilian?

by movement on Sep 6, 2012 6:03 pm • link • report

bah, way to blow my own joke. *how*

by movement on Sep 6, 2012 6:12 pm • link • report

That video sucks. They didn't even flip it over.

by 20011 on Sep 6, 2012 8:40 pm • link • report

This reminds one the Vilnius campaign to discourage parking in bike lanes.

by Jim T on Sep 7, 2012 7:51 am • link • report

Meh, it's cleaner than the Colombian option...

by MJ on Sep 7, 2012 8:50 am • link • report

I love this video, however I wouldn't use the word "solution" to describe it - more like a PR campaign tactic!

by grumpy on Sep 7, 2012 10:53 am • link • report

What really needs to happen is a citywide survey of visual obstructions too close to intersections.

Sometimes people pull out like that because they can't see when making a right turn and yielding. Not moving until you've got a light isn't always an option if people behind you are impatient and honking their horn.

I have to do this every day when I drive. There's an intersection near where I live that has some overgrown mess on the corner, making it impossible to see when pulling out.

by Steve W on Sep 7, 2012 1:44 pm • link • report

What's needed in DC is an educational campaign, because many drivers think that the right place to stop is up as close to the crossing traffic lane as possible. Fact is, the "stop bar" is the start of the intersection, and anyone crossing that with a red light is violating the red light. As for the right-turn-on-red visibility issue, whatever the visibility, the driver must stop before the stop bar, then move forward for the right turn.

On the Beach Drive exit ramp at the Zoo, there's a crosswalk, and it's a "no turn on red" intersection, so there's utterly no excuse for stopping on the crosswalk. But you'll see that happen, dozens of times a day. IMHO drivers just don't know any better, and don't know that stopping astride the crosswalk is wrong.

by Jack on Sep 8, 2012 1:20 pm • link • report

A better option would be to seize all vehicles that block sidewalks, crosswalks, disabled spaces and sell the cars for less than 90% of what they are worth. This would get the message across very quickly

by kk on Sep 8, 2012 4:48 pm • link • report