East Hampton Village installs new lighted crosswalks after a pedestrian was struck, mayor says

East Hampton Village has installed new lighted crosswalks at five non-signalized crossings to improve pedestrian visibility after a recent serious injury, Mayor Jerry Larson said on the program.

Larson said the old flashing systems were discontinued by the state and the new technology includes devices that look like cameras and illuminate the crosswalk ground when activated by a pedestrian. "When you activate the crosswalk, when you walk into the crosswalk, those lights will come on as well as the flashing to light the ground," he said, describing the system’s operation. The mayor credited Marcos Balladron with finding the company that supplied the lights.

Larson said the village is funding the installations at taxpayers' expense and has not yet secured a grant. He framed the upgrades as a response to a recent incident in which "a poor gentleman got hit right at the jity stop... he did sustain some terrible injuries." The mayor said the lights should make pedestrians more visible at night, especially on Main Street and on multi-lane approaches where drivers may miss a crossing pedestrian.

Why it matters: upgrades aim to reduce pedestrian injuries by improving nighttime visibility at crossings that are not controlled by traffic signals; the village used local funds pending grant opportunities. Larson said the change addresses both engineering and behavioral safety issues: lighting the ground to make a crossing person visible rather than relying solely on overhead flashing signs.

No vote or county/state approval was described on the broadcast; Larson presented the installations as a municipal decision to improve safety using village funds.