The crosswalk 101: How to be a safe pedestrian

This week's ride-along brings me outside of the car to talk about pedestrian safety.

If you didn’t know, Orange County ranks No. 1 out of 67 counties in Florida for vehicle crashes hitting pedestrian. All of which are 100 percent avoidable, in my opinion.

Trey Augenblick, of St. Cloud, sent in an email that read, “Hey, I think it’s about time Central Florida gets some pedestrian safety reminders."

Here are the rules to the road for pedestrians:

First, find a marked crosswalk. You never want to walk out into the middle of the road.

Second educate yourself on what the pedestrian traffic indicators actually mean. A solid white pedestrian crossing means you can start to cross, just be sure to watch out for vehicles. A flashing red hand means don’t start crossing, but if you can finish walking if you are already in the crosswalk.

The countdown is the amount of time you have remaining before vehicles get the green light. 

A steady red hand means it is not safe to cross.

Augenblick's email asked a specific question about which button he is supposed to push before crossing the street. Most of the time there is a sign indicating which button you are supposed to push. If that sign isn’t there the button facing the direction you want to cross is the button you push.