Why Hilton Head man wants 'YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER' painted on south end sidewalks

Barry Ginn and his dog Romeo walk 15 to 25 miles a week on Hilton Head Island.

They routinely cross the Charles E. Fraser Bridge on the Cross Island Parkway. He calls it the closest place to heaven on Hilton Head because it is the highest peak.

But recently he considered painting his entire body white because it's closer to heaven in another way. Walking around the south end of Hilton Head can make him feel close to death.

"I was going to put a sign on my painted body that said, 'I enjoy looking at the beauty of Hilton Head, so don't kill me today."

He said drivers are distracted, and many tourists on bicycles are gliding along in La La Land, not paying attention to vehicles or street signs around them.

That's why Ginn texted me a video he took last November in downtown Salt Lake City.

It shows a string of words painted on the sidewalk near a busy intersection:

"YOUR

LIFE

IS

IN

DANGER"

The last installment reads: "Watch For Cars, They Might Not See You."

Ginn said, "It's so in-your-face, it's unbelievable."

He thinks Hilton Head needs a message like that to get in its face.

The Utah Department of Transportation put the "sidewalk clings" down as part of its "Zero Fatalities" and "Heads Up" efforts to reverse a rising trend of pedestrian fatalities.

"I saw that and thought it's a great thing," Ginn said. "It's proactive. It could be proactive for Hilton Head.

"You've got to make a point. That's pretty dramatic."

It was dramatic for Ginn the day his car was stopped at a red light on Hilton Head. He said he looked left and looked right when the light turned green, but as soon as he started to go, a little girl on a bicycle was right in front of him and the child never, ever even looked at what traffic was doing.

"It bothered me for weeks after that," he said.

It's something the Hilton Head Bicycle Advisory Committee has worked on for years, spurring many safety improvements as the Town of Hilton Head Island has achieved Gold Level status as a Bicycle Friendly Community from The League of American Bicyclists.

As bicycling became a favorite activity on Hilton Head, the danger increased.

On Wednesday, local bicycle advocates staged their annual Ride of Silence to honor bicyclists killed on the road.

Friday is Bike to Work or School Day, and they want the public to take an online survey.

Bikers will gather at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Coligny Beach Park for a community Beach Bike Ride in honor of National Bike Month.

Bicycling advocates stress that drivers on Hilton Head should look left and right TWICE before pulling out of a side street or driveway.

Ginn proposed the jarring signs be placed all over Pope Avenue and up to Shipyard on William Hilton Parkway.

"This is a family-reunion kind of place," said Ginn, an islander for 45 years. "Families come and they ride bikes, go to the beach, chill out. We want them to do that and have a blast. But we don't want them to get hurt.

"This is casting no blame on anybody. This is proactive. We need to be careful with our customers, and they are our customers. We make money off these poor people who don't have a clue of what to do when they get down here. We need to protect these people."

This story was originally published May 17, 2018 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Why Hilton Head man wants 'YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER' painted on south end sidewalks."