Information About The Crash
CIAA learned about an April 22, 2024 car/pedestrian crash at the intersection of Main and Pauline from the May, 2024 city administrator’s report.
The UD-10 report describes that a pedestrian was walking north in the crosswalk through the intersection of Main and Pauline. He was struck by a left-turning vehicle. The UD-10 shows that the driver of the turning vehicle failed to yield and a citation was issued. The pedestrian had serious trauma, including suspected head and back injuries and a collapsed lung.
Excerpt of the UD-10 with narrative and diagram.
CIAA visited this location on June 15, 2024 and collected the following pictures. On the day of the site visit, the leading pedestrian interval (LPI) was observed for pedestrian traffic crossing Pauline.
Picture of Main Street, from the perspective of a north-bound driver. Photo taken on June 15, 2024.
The Main/Pauline intersection, from the perspective of a pedestrian crossing to the south. Photo taken on June 15, 2024.
Crashes during vehicle left turn movements account for a large portion of injury crashes in the city. Other recent examples include:
Huron and Chapin Pedestrian Crash (link to CIAA post)
Medical Center Dr. Pedestrian Crash (link to UD-10)
Stadium and Brockman Bicycle Crash (link to UD-10)
Ashley and LIberty Pedestrian Crash (link to UD-10)
Ann and Glen Pedestrian Crash (link to UD-10)
Main and Depot Bicycle Crash (link to UD-10)
Clearly, vehicle left turns are an area where Ann Arbor can improve. Left turns and their signals were discussed at length in the March, 2024 Ann Arbor Transportation Commission meeting. Transportation Engineering staff committed to improving pedestrian protection from left-turning vehicles and to reporting their progress in subsequent meetings, but only at intersections with flashing yellow arrows (FYA) for left turns.
The Pauline intersection would benefit from similar signal changes, like a left turn signal that does not activate when pedestrians press the button, or a dedicated signal phase only for pedestrian traffic. Considering the number of left-turn crashes endured by the vulnerable road users of Ann Arbor, changes like these will be needed in order to achieve Vision Zero.