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GLASTONBURY, Conn. — As of Feb. 26, 2025, pedestrians in Glastonbury have a new, low-cost safety tool at five of the town's most-used crosswalks: bright orange flags that anyone can carry while stepping into traffic. The Glastonbury Police Department set up the flag stations this month as a quick way to make walkers and runners more visible, and Lt. Kevin Szydlo said the program is only the opening phase of a larger safety effort. Within the next 18 months, the town plans to replace the flags with push-button crosswalk beacons that flash lights when activated.
The design is about as simple as a safety measure can be. At each of the five intersections, a canister on one side of the road holds a stack of orange flags. Pedestrians take one, check for traffic, and hold it up — many wave it overhead — as they move through the crosswalk. On the other side, they drop the flag into a matching canister so the next person can use it.
There is no registration and no sensor. If a pedestrian forgets to return a flag, someone else may end up crossing empty-handed. Police acknowledged the system depends on cooperation, but they said no significant problems with missing flags have come up so far.
The five intersections were chosen, Szydlo said, based on where officers see the most foot traffic and where drivers have a habit of rolling through crosswalks. He said the department is always looking for new ways to draw attention to pedestrian safety, and a bright orange flag is one of the least expensive options available.
Rick Taff, who has lived in Glastonbury for 40 years, runs on town roads about four times a week. That puts him at a crosswalk several times per run, and he has already tested the new flags. Most drivers responded the way the program intends: they saw the flag and stopped. One car, however, went past him even with the flag in his hand.
Taff said that matched a pattern he has noticed for years — on nearly every morning run, at least one driver fails to stop for someone waiting to cross. He called the flags a useful, if imperfect, extra layer of visibility, and said he would rather cross with a flag than without one.
The flag program arrives against a legal backdrop that already favors pedestrians. Connecticut General Statutes Section 14-300(c) requires drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. Lawmakers have revised the statute several times, including a 2019 change that made it easier for police to enforce the rule.
Enforcement remains inconsistent, though, and advocates say the law only works if drivers actually see the person about to step off the curb. Data from the Governors Highway Safety Association shows Connecticut typically records between 60 and 80 pedestrian deaths a year, a number that has stayed stubbornly high even as some other categories of traffic deaths have declined. In that context, a low-tech flag can be a useful complement to the state's existing rules.
Glastonbury is far from the first Connecticut town to try pedestrian flags. Westport, Stamford, and Middletown have each experimented with similar programs, with mixed results. The most common problem is upkeep: flags disappear, canisters run empty, and after a snowfall the supply can sit buried for days. In a few towns, the programs quietly wound down as crews grew tired of restocking.
Szydlo said Glastonbury will monitor how often the flags are used and keep the canisters filled. The cost of replacing a handful of flags, he said, is trivial compared with the potential cost of a pedestrian crash. Police are also watching which intersections see the most activity, a factor that could shape future expansion.
Traffic safety engineers describe flag systems as a passive countermeasure. They do not change street geometry, slow cars, or light up the pavement; they simply make a pedestrian more noticeable. Studies of similar programs in other states have shown modest but measurable increases in drivers yielding, especially on two-lane roads where an approaching driver has time to react.
The flags were never meant to be permanent. Szydlo said the police department plans to install crosswalk beacons with push buttons and flashing lights at the same five locations within the next year and a half. Pedestrians would press a button to activate rectangular LED panels mounted on posts at each end of the crossing — a signal much harder to ignore than a waving flag, especially after dark.
The beacons require design work, permits, and funding, which is why they are on a longer timeline. Glastonbury's approach — starting with an inexpensive, immediately usable measure, then building toward permanent infrastructure — is one that transportation planners across the state have encouraged for towns without dedicated safety budgets.
The process takes about five seconds. Grab a flag from the canister, pause at the curb, check both directions, and raise the flag as you start crossing. On the far side, drop the flag into the canister for the next pedestrian.
Police emphasize that the flags do not replace basic road sense: look both ways, make eye contact with drivers, and stay inside the marked crosswalk. Drivers, meanwhile, are reminded that failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk is a moving violation in Connecticut, with fines that go up if a crash causes injury.
The five flag locations may not be the final five. Szydlo said the department is open to expanding the program if the first installations catch on and if residents point to other crossings that need attention. Police also plan to track near-miss reports and driver compliance over the coming months.
Glastonbury's move is part of a wider push across Connecticut to reduce pedestrian injuries and deaths. Towns are testing leading pedestrian intervals at signaled intersections, high-visibility crosswalk markings, and curb extensions that shorten the distance people must cross. The orange flags are a modest addition to that toolbox, but they are also the most visible sign yet that the town is treating pedestrian safety as a real priority. For a regular runner like Taff, the change is a welcome one: better to have a flag in hand than to rely on a driver paying attention.
