Hailey Wilmer / Colorado Daily

Jaime Bogardy, a GoBoulder Ambassador, helps a biker cross Broadway at 17th Street Thursday afternoon. The GoBoulder Ambassadors were on hand to educate pedestrians and cyclists in regards to their rights and responsibilities. Earlier this month a cyclist was hit at this intersection.

In Boulder it may be difficult not to notice the blinking yellow crosswalk signs at some intersections, but not everyone knows how to respond to them.

Yesterday two loudly dressed ambassadors for GO Boulder donned neon-polyester wigs and gigantic signs reading "Yield to Me" and guarded pedestrians as they crossed the street at the blinking crosswalk at 17th Street and Broadway. Their mission: make sure the rules of the crosswalk are understood by motorists and pedestrians alike.

"We all need to share the road and be courteous weather your in a car, or on a bike, or walking," said Andrea Robbins of GO Boulder (Great Options in transportation). "You don't just push the button and step out. You push the button and look up to make sure that the motorists notice you before you step off the curb."

The effort to raise awareness of crosswalk rules was spurred by an incident two weeks ago in which an older woman in a car was confused by the blinking crosswalk sign and collided with a young man on a bike.

"Most people don't realize that when you are riding a bike you have to enter the crosswalk at walking speed," said Jamie Bogardy, a GO Boulder Ambassador dressed in a road-cone orange wig. "It's both the drivers' and pedestrians' responsibility to exercise caution."

Bogardy and her equally spectacularly-bewigged colleague Erika Iverson spent the early afternoon explaining the rules to crosswalk users. A list of those rules was also posted above the crosswalk button with additional safety tips.

Here are some of the simple rules and tips:

1.) Motorists are required to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk but may continue once pedestrians have vacated that part of the street even if the lights are still blinking.

2.) Cyclists are allowed to use the crosswalk without dismounting but they must enter it at a walking pace.

3.) All crosswalk users are heavily encouraged to use the walk button and should make eye contact with the motorist or make sure that they are slowing down before leaving the curb.

The event yesterday may pave the way for similar efforts in the future, according to Robbins.

"If we find it successful and people are finding the information useful I think well probably set up similar efforts at different locations," said Robbins.

The duties of GO Boulder extend beyond just crosswalk awareness. They are also proponents of alternative transportation such as biking, busing, and walking. Another program GO Boulder is responsible for is the Transportation Master Plan, first drafted in 1989, the same year the organization was founded, to ensure that the city has a sustainable transportation system that matches its green values.

For more information those interested can visit the GO Boulder Web site at www.goboulder.net.

Contact Christopher Moore about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 113, or at editor@coloradodaily.com.