AUBURN, NY—April 8, 2003—Bright ideas, solid research and teamwork won four students from Highland Park Middle School in Highland Park, NJ, a berth as semifinalists in the Christopher Columbus Awards, a nationwide program that challenges middle-school students to explore opportunities for positive change in their communities.

Concerned that low visibility and short sight lines were putting people at risk in crosswalks, the students—7^th graders Michael Bachmann, Colin Davis, Maxwell Phillips and David Stern, and their science teacher Kathy Drozd—decided to take action to improve safety. The students conducted a number of road tests to determine drivers’ sight lines, stopping distance, and observance of traffic signals on Raritan Avenue. They also conducted surveys of students and motorists and were shocked to find that 38% of them said they had almost been hit by a car while in a crosswalk there, 94% reported seeing cars rushing yellow and red lights, and 70% said they themselves had actually crossed on yellow and red lights.

"Given that everyone seems to be rushing to get where they are going, we thought the best thing we could do is make crosswalks and pedestrians more visible to motorists," the team said. They worked with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the Highland Park Police Department and a community Pedestrian Task Force to devise a plan for improving sight lines by increasing the distance motorists must keep from crosswalks when parking, and by providing bright yellow vests for pedestrians to wear at crosswalks, a color their research confirmed was most visible to motorists.

A panel of community leaders, scientists and experts in science education judged this idea as one of the top 30 Christopher Columbus Award entries in the U.S. Nearly 2,000 students participated nationwide.