Clowns stop Philadelphia traffic for April 1

Last April Fool’s Day, the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities installed a dedicated lane for Philadelphia pedestrians texting while walking. It was a success.

This year, they sent clowns into traffic. Well, hopefully not into traffic.

In the stuff of nightmares, a pack of clowns descends on a car stopped halfway into a crosswalk at 15th St. and John F. Kennedy Boulevard. They “push” the vehicle back across the line.

“We’ve actually managed to buckle [drivers’] seatbelts and not run through the crosswalks,” said Rina Cutler, Deputy Mayor of Transportation for the City of Philadelphia, who sent in the clowns. 

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They’re right, people don’t drive properly, observes a woman on the sidewalk

Yolanda Medley was accosted cross the street.

“When I was coming across the street, she just stopped me with the mime and I thought it was just too funny. I think that it’s so funny,” said Medley. “Look, she’s just hilarious.”

Escorting people on foot across the intersection, Daniel Higbee, one of the clowns from the Pig Iron School has “picked up some tips” he’s eager to share for navigating the roads safely.

“People have been showing me how to walk across the street,” he said pointing to the crosswalk light.  “And then, I don’t have to just guess when I go across — it does change and let me know!”

For everyone else, once the clowns are off the streets, their antics should make traffic rules hard to forget.

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