"This is a joke, right?"

That was pretty much the reaction from every Calgarian who read Metro Calgary's article detailing a suggestion from the city that pedestrians carry fluorescent flags across busy crosswalks to avoid being hit by cars.

Tony Churchill, the city's leader of traffic safety operations, went before council Wednesday and pitched the idea to put flags in buckets at intersections — what he believes is a cost-effective way to keep pedestrians safe.

But, wait. The flag doesn't actually make the pedestrian safer, he said. Rather, it's how the flag is used.

“You hold the flag out until you have a driver’s attention and they stop, and you don’t step in front of the vehicle until the vehicle is stopped. Then you cross part way and you make sure the next vehicle is stopped.”

Riiiiight.

Churchill told council the flags and buckets are much cheaper to implement than, say, overhead crossing lights or painting ladder crosswalks on the street.