A man who calls himself “Peatonito” and dresses as a wrestler, pushes a car as he performs for AFP showing an example of his routine in the streets of Mexico City on April 21, 2015. Peatonito is a character who resembles a superheroe trying to raise drivers’ awareness so that they respect crosswalks in the streets of Mexico City. AFP PHOTO/ Yuri CORTEZ (Photo credit should read YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
What does it take to get drivers to respect the law? Patonito came to Buffalo in 2014, all the way from Mexico City, during the CNU conference and took traffic in his hands on Niagara Street, helping people cross the busy, busy street!
Residents and businesses in the Niagara Street corridor are concerned about the excessive speed of traffic and blatant disregard for traffic laws. We’ve seen many crashes and near misses. While we look forward to the traffic calming that will be part of the new street design, enforcing traffic laws now was a topic at our recent general meeting and follow-up board meeting.
Police Chief Barba and Chief Gramaglia met with us and agreed to have increased monitoring. They recommended calling #311 to report issues with traffic (311Buffalo app can be downloaded for more convenient submissions).
We are sending letters to City of Buffalo Department of Public Works requesting more traffic lights at intersections including Lafayette Avenue and Bird Avenue. Constituents are encouraged to do the same.
We are also seeking flashing lights that display the speed of vehicles. This serves two purposes: it reminds drivers that the speed is 30mph on the street and, secondly, records statistics.
