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'Don't Read This. Look Up!'

What started as a Yale Day of Service activity last month turned into a June 1 Day of Warning Yale Pedestrians To Pay Attention as they cross dangerous intersections around the medical center.

"Don't Read This," say the bright orange stencils that Abigail Roth ’90, ’94JD, and Eric Berger ’66 spray-painted on the sidewalk. "Look Up!"

One of the intersections that Roth, who works at the School of Management, and Berger, a local psychiatrist, painted was the corner of York Street and South Frontage Road, a block from the main entrance to Yale-New Haven Hospital. That's where Yale School of Medicine student Mila Rainof ’08MD was fatally hit by a car five years ago.

The "Look Up" warning was necessary for Yale-New Haven employee Donita Mercer, who crossed the street while looking at her cell phone Saturday morning. When she reached the corner where Roth and Berger were working, they explained the project: volunteers from a Yale traffic safety committee were painting 32 corners at the eight intersections deemed most hazardous for pedestrians.

In just ten minutes at that corner on Saturday morning, at least a half-dozen people crossed while staring at their phones, the New Haven Independent reports.

“It’s really amazing that someone isn’t injured yet with the fast cars and people looking down at their phones,” Roth said.

The taggers plan to resume their work on the central campus in the fall, after students return.

Filed under traffic safety
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