The Springdale town council has done the wise thing and taken the rainbow crosswalk issue under review. Bravo! Fools rush in where pedestrians fear to tread. They dearly need to take a closer look at this complex issue.
First, there are several colours involved. And none of them are black. This requires extra study. How many colours, and what shades? A little too much cyan and you get navy instead of periwinkle. The International Pride Standards Bureau has very strict spectrometry guidelines, and they have to make sure Gus up in the paints department at Home Hardware has the right equipment to deliver.
More importantly, we’re talking about a crosswalk here. Rainbows are arcs. They need straight lines. Someone has to do the math. How long should the lines be? The key formula here is this: arc length = 2πr(C/360), where C is the central angle of the arc in degrees. In the diagram below, r is 10 and C is 57. No one’s going to be squaring the circle, so to speak, until these calculations are made.
Then there’s safety. Drivers are likely to experience extreme confusion upon encountering a multicoloured patchwork across the road. What should they do? Stop? Go? Yield? Listen for a train? Appropriate signage will have to be installed from both approaches: “Drivers be warned. You are approaching a Pride-themed crosswalk. Do not focus on any one colour. The colours are only there to represent diversity. Proceed as if there are no colours when the way is clear.”
Also, keep in mind, this is not an exclusive sidewalk. It can also be used by those who have no gender identity divergence or orientation other than with which they were born. If you fall in the latter category, you do not have to continue further along the road to find a crosswalk that’s “traditional” or “normal” or “mindnumbingly oppressive in its adherence to long discarded societal mores.” Again, a simple sign will suffice: “This crosswalk is dedicated to members of the LBGTQ community, but may also be used by cis-gendered individuals who wish to virtue-signal their support. No skipping or hopscotch, please. There is no pot of gold at the end of this sidewalk.”
This is a big step for Springdale. Councilors want to make sure they consider all these important implications — and more —before proceeding.
There’s a lot of work to be done.
Check back next spring.