Information About the Crash
On April 30, AAPD posted on their Facebook account about a crash involving a pedestrian and a left-turning car.
AAPD Facebook post
The May, 19, 2025 City Administrator’s Report listed details of this crash, including that the pedestrian received an A (serious) injury.
The UD-10 report prepared by AAPD describes how a left-turning driver turned onto northbound Division with a flashing yellow arrow signal. The driver did not see the pedestrian in the crosswalk and struck him.
Excerpt of UD-10 report.
The signals of this intersection include a Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) interval for drivers who, like the one in this crash, are turning left from eastbound Huron onto northbound Division. Drivers will see this FYA even when the pedestrian signal to cross Division displays the walk signal.
CIAA visited this intersection on May 2, 2025 and collected images and video. The following screen capture, taken from a video of one complete cycle of the signals that face eastbound Huron traffic, confirms that the FYA interval is indeed coincident with the walk signal for pedestrians crossing Division. Saying it another way: the flashing yellow arrow directs vehicle traffic through a crosswalk that has a walk signal.
This image of the signals and Huron and Division from May 2, 2025 shows how the yellow arrow and the walk signal are displayed at the same time.
Recommendations
Evaluation of This Crash By Transportation Experts
The Transportation Engineering staff of the City of Ann Arbor need to evaluate this crash and recommend changes to prevent future incidents like this one. Any serious or fatal crash in the city should get this kind of scrutiny, with a focus on both quick, interim fixes and long term solutions. Their evaluation should include traffic counts of pedestrians and vehicles.
Cancel the FYAs
Left turn signals, and the desire to cancel FYAs when pedestrians are present, were discussed at the March 20, 2024 Transportation Commission meeting. Also discussed was how FYA signals appear to be a factor in this crash at Stadium and Brockman, this crash at Main and Depot, and this near miss at Main and Depot.
15 months later, 18 of the 26 affected traffic signals in the city have been reprogrammed to cancel the FYA for signal cycles in which a pedestrian is present, indicated by pressing the button to activate the walk signal. Progress on the reprogramming, and the inhibitors that prevent some intersections from being changed, were discussed in the April, 2025 meeting, two weeks before the crash at Division and Huron. At this meeting, I proposed that the FYAs at the remaining intersections be deactivated until they are reprogrammed to be cancelled by pedestrians. I raised the topic again in the May, 2025 meeting, two weeks after the crash. But still the FYAs remain. Directing vehicle traffic through a crosswalk that is in use or may be in use by pedestrians creates conflicts and serious pedestrian dangers that can be avoided with better signal infrastructure.
The list of remaining intersections that still have flashing yellow arrows concurrent with the walk signal was shared in the Transportation Projects Update file presented at the June, 2025 Transportation Commission meeting. The remaining intersections and their current status or reason for reprogramming delay are shown below.
Excerpt from the June, 2025 Transportation Projects Update.
Take it Back from MDOT
According to the June, 2025 Transportation Projects Update, the FYA signals at the intersections of Division/Huron and Fifth/Huron have not been changed yet because there are no push buttons to let pedestrians indicate their presence. Also mentioned in discussion during the April, 2025 and May, 2025 Transportation Commission meetings is the fact that any changes to these intersections will require approval from MDOT, since Huron is a state trunk line. After this crash on Huron on April 30, 2025 and a fatal crash 5 days later at Huron and 4th, it is obvious that Huron needs to change. The FYA programming needs to be corrected, and the street needs to be slowed and narrowed. Huron needs to be improved so that it reflects Ann Arbor’s values, not MDOT’s.
In April, the city began negotiations with MDOT for transferring control of Huron, N. Main, Washtenaw, and Jackson. CIAA will share updates on the progress of the transfer when they are available.
11/9/2025 Update: the July Transportation Projects Update indicates that only 6 FYA intersections remain to be updated: Fifth & Huron; Division & Huron; E. Medical & Observatory; Pauline & Seventh; Fuller & Glen; E Medical & E Hospital.