Crosswalk Safety Is Our Number One Goal

LightGuard Systems® Inc specializes in the manufacture of In-Roadway Warning Light (IRWL) crosswalk systems called the Smart Crosswalk™. The company also manufactures LED enhanced yellow flashing warning signs, which improves the safety of crosswalks for pedestrians and vehicular traffic alike. These precautions have greatly increased not only school crossing safety but also the overall street safety in the City of Sebastopol.

Thousands of such systems are in use across the U.S. According to Sue Kelly, Sebastopol City Engineer, between 2006 and 2011, the City of Sebastopol has installed a total of 13 IRWL enhanced crosswalk safety solutions using the LightGuard Systems Smart Crosswalk™ at various intersections along State Highway 116 in Sebastopol as part of our “Street Smart Sebastopol” program. 

This program is aimed at improving “walkability” in our downtown areas and reducing the number of traffic and pedestrian crossing accidents downtown, where we have two state highways intersecting. During construction of the most recent phase (9 intersections) the city received great support from President/CEO Michael Harrison and his crew at LightGuard, when they had questions about proper installation and inspections of traffic calming solutions. The city has been highly pleased with the performance of the systems, most of which are now between 2-3 years old.

Although there is no specific data to support claims of “safer” streets, city officials can report plenty of anecdotal evidence that these street crossing safety systems have improved the pedestrian experience on this busy highway which also happens to be our Main Street. The public response and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. When the City of Sebastopol applied for the Caltrans Encroachment Permit to install the first of these crossing systems in 2004, they were “non-standard” facilities for state highways, and the team at Crosswalks.com had to work through quite a long process with Caltrans to gain their approval.

More recently, the team actually received a call from a Caltrans engineer asking them to share the contract specifications for the LightGuard equipment, so that he could use it in the design of an improvement the State was working on in Marin County.

Contact Information

David Hauser

Owner

crosswalks.com

Contact via E-mail