Pedestrian Crossings

[Warstud]

Personally I rarely ever use them but yesterday I was sitting at a Red Light and watched a few kids cross the road . One kid pushed the button before they all crossed . I noticed the crossing signal was showing a hand as they crossed which didnt look right to me .
It got me thinking : How many people have gotten hit or killed misinterpreting what these signals mean ? Wouldn't a simple STOP or GO be easier to understand ?
Here are the signals >>>>>

 

[vavavroom]

Always wait for the White Man!

 

[SC Maintenance]

The sign is confusing. The signals aren't. If its a red hand - don't walk.

If your dumb enough to stop half way because the hand turns red when your in the middle, well the sign likely won't help you.

 

[4WD]

Always wait for the White Man!

Don’t work in Korea - they run red lights …
Just make sure there are no cars near enough - cross fast …

 

[vavavroom]

Don’t work in Korea - they run red lights …
Just make sure there are no cars near enough - cross fast …

It's not only in Korea. The red-light running has gotten so bad that we get more and more red-light cameras. Right turns on red are also going to go away because the number of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities during such turns has shot up.

 

[vavavroom]

California state law now prohibits parking within 20 feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk. I have no idea why this hasn't been the law for decades because vehicles blocking pedestrians from a driver's view and cars from a pedestrian's view were such an obvious hazard. Until the beginning of next year, only warnings will be issued to violators. Of course, this means that street parking will be an even bigger problem.

 

[barryh]

Personally I rarely ever use them but yesterday I was sitting at a Red Light and watched a few kids cross the road . One kid pushed the button before they all crossed . I noticed the crossing signal was showing a hand as they crossed which didnt look right to me .
It got me thinking : How many people have gotten hit or killed misinterpreting what these signals mean ? Wouldn't a simple STOP or GO be easier to understand ?
Here are the signals >>>>>
View attachment 202826

I'll give you an outsiders view which is that sign looks complicated to me. I appreciate the value of the remaining time counter but there are other ways to provide that function.

This is what we have. The pedestrian presses the button and is told to wait until the traffic lights bring the traffic to a halt. The wait sign changes to cross and a green walking man lights up on the opposite side of the road. I think the idea of that pedestrians needs to still see something when they are half way across the road in order to get a move on should the green walking man change to red.

At the same time as all this is going on a beeper sounds when it's safe to cross to aid blind or partially sighted people to use the crossing. The beeper changes tone when the time to cross is running out. I could use the crossing safely on the beeper sound alone.

Works well for me when I am taking the grandkids to school but I guess that applies to any crossing that you use every day.

 

[vavavroom]

White men, green men, red men. The Japanese think green is blue. 1 in 12 men is colorblind - they don't even know when they are running a red light and they have never correctly identified a pink or a blue elephant.

 

[LongTime_Lurker]

I crossed some unfinished crosswalks recently where the electronics were not installed in Vancouver, WA. The drivers were cross with me.

 

[vavavroom]

That orange hand on the light is a high-five, right?