5 Responses to “Do Not Pass Go”

1. Phil
   January 2nd, 2009 @ 4:55 pm

   I’ve got to wonder who writes those signs. What possible use is “Pedestrians Should Not Be In Crosswalk”? So, if you’re in the crosswalk and The Hand stops flashing, you’re supposed to… what? Teleport away? Jump out of the crosswalk into the traffic lanes? Perhaps instead of a steady hand symbol, it should show a nagging “shame on you” finger symbol.

   Legally, I suspect the meaning of Steady Hand is actually exactly the same as Flashing Hand, specifically “Don’t Start, Finish Crossing If Started”. Or maybe “Don’t Start, Finish Crossing If Started, Watch For Impatient Drivers Trying To Run You Down”.

   Pet peeve: here when a traffic light turns green, the pedestrian signal does not switch to Walk unless someone has already pushed the button. So as you approach an intersection on foot while the light is green, you have to make a choice. Choice 1, which most people take, is to ignore the Don’t Walk signal entirely and go straight across the crosswalk. Note that you have no idea how much time is left, since it doesn’t do the flashing-to-steady Hand thing either. Choice 2 is to go way out of your way over to the button, causing all cars that wish to turn across your (former) straight-ahead path to think you’re not going that way, push the button, get the Walk signal (or miss it when you could have easily walked right on across with Choice 1), walk directly into the path of one of those turning cars or laboriously walk way around a car sitting there waiting to turn (whose driver is looking the other way for a break in traffic, and will immediately run you down if one appears), and finally (if you survive) cross the street. Of course Choice 2 would be completely unnecessary if the city would just program the Walk light to come on with green whether anyone pushed the button or not. I have no idea why they don’t, as there seems to be no rational reason not to. Meanwhile I have nearly been run down dozens of times by right-turning car drivers who, unless they’ve walked this themselves, have no reason to think a pedestrian would walk away from the pole and suddenly left turn directly in front of them (into the crosswalk). I seem to recall back in Denver when right-turn-on-red was first made legal, the law said you could only do the turn on red when no pedestrians were present anywhere at the intersection. I don’t know if that’s still the law, or if it is (or ever was) the law here in southern California, but if it is, no one seems to know (or care?).

2. Flasshe
   January 4th, 2009 @ 3:04 pm

   So, if you’re in the crosswalk and The Hand stops flashing, you’re supposed to… what? Teleport away? Jump out of the crosswalk into the traffic lanes?

   Run Like Hell!

   Of course Choice 2 would be completely unnecessary if the city would just program the Walk light to come on with green whether anyone pushed the button or not. I have no idea why they don’t, as there seems to be no rational reason not to.

   Some intersections around Denver, especially downtown, already do that. Of course, in that case, you don’t need to have a button at all. The reason to have the button is so that the light stays green longer, allowing both the turning cars and the peds to get through. I know that the stoplight on my jogging route is like that. If I didn’t hit the button, then I would have to make a mad dash across the intersection on green to make it across before it changes. I like this system as a driver, because I don’t want to have to wait longer at the intersection than necessary, waiting for imaginary peds to cross.

   I seem to recall back in Denver when right-turn-on-red was first made legal, the law said you could only do the turn on red when no pedestrians were present anywhere at the intersection.

   I believe that’s still the case.

3. Phil
   January 4th, 2009 @ 5:14 pm

   Of course, in that case, you don’t need to have a button at all. The reason to have the button is so that the light stays green longer, allowing both the turning cars and the peds to get through. I know that the stoplight on my jogging route is like that. If I didn’t hit the button, then I would have to make a mad dash across the intersection on green to make it across before it changes. I like this system as a driver, because I don’t want to have to wait longer at the intersection than necessary, waiting for imaginary peds to cross.

   I’m not understanding. The walk light would come on with green only if there’s time for a ped to cross, of course. If the green cycle is going to be too short, it would not be arbitrarily lengthened nor would the walk signal come on. Most the signaled intersections around here have a green-time long enough for peds, at least parallel to the more major street, and/or when there’s enough traffic. Pressing the button would let the traffic controller know there are ped(s) present, possibly causing it to lengthen the green cycle (and hence lighting the walk signal, if it wouldn’t otherwise have been lit, since now the green time would be long enough).

   I’m pretty sure there aren’t any intersections here where pushing a ped or bicycle button creates a walk signal without a corresponding green for the cars. Which reminds me of another oddity. The bicycle buttons do exactly the same thing as the ped buttons, which makes no sense (other than if you consider the bicycle buttons are usually better positioned and easier to reach for peds than the ped buttons… figure that one out!). Bicycles are supposed to obey the green light, not the walk signal.

4. Flasshe
   January 4th, 2009 @ 5:32 pm

   I’m not understanding. The walk light would come on with green only if there’s time for a ped to cross, of course. If the green cycle is going to be too short, it would not be arbitrarily lengthened nor would the walk signal come on.

   I’m not understanding what you’re not understanding. I think we’re saying the same thing, but I’m not sure.

   Here’s what I observe at my jogging intersection:

   I approach the light on foot and it is red. Cars are waiting for it to turn green.

   If I don’t push the walk button, then when the light turns green, the “walk” light does not come on, and the length of the green light is too short to walk across.

   If I do push the walk button, then when the light turns green, the “walk” light does come on and the length of the green light is long enough for both me to walk across and for the turning cars to make it through.

5. Phil
   January 4th, 2009 @ 10:18 pm

   If I don’t push the walk button, then when the light turns green, the “walk” light does not come on, and the length of the green light is too short to walk across.

   If I do push the walk button, then when the light turns green, the “walk” light does come on and the length of the green light is long enough for both me to walk across and for the turning cars to make it through.

   Yes, I see that at some intersections. But at other intersections: I approach the light on foot and it is red. Cars are waiting for it to turn green. If I don’t push the walk button, then the light turns green, the “walk” light does not come on, but the length of the green light is long enough (often plenty long enough) to walk across.

   On the other hand, if I approach the light while it is green, there’s never a “walk” light whether the time remaining is sufficient to walk across or not (unless someone else has already pushed the button). If I just go across anyway, I’ll probably be fine (given there’s a yellow light yet to come). But maybe not (given the width of the intersection and the length of most yellow lights). But if I veer way out of my way so as to push the button, I may (a) waste so much time I can no longer cross in time, (b) confuse drivers by the double shift in path, resulting in blocked paths or near-death encounters, and/or (c) face the ridicule of onlookers for doing something so dorky as actually pushing the button.

Comments are closed.

← Pride of the Valkyries

The inPhonite Migration: Update →