Thursday, August 28, 2008

wacky free-for-all pedestrian crosswalk

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080828.wscramble28/BNStory/National/home

Before the morning rush hour, city workers will remove coverings from new pedestrian crossing signals and unveil Toronto's first experimental "pedestrian scramble" intersection, a traffic-light configuration that stops cars in all directions with a red light to allow pedestrians to cross in all directions, even diagonally.

From behind a windshield, however, the change may not be so popular. It will mean much longer red lights for drivers to make way for this new 28-second, pedestrian-only phase in the traffic-light cycle. Currently, the longest wait at this intersection for drivers (those on Yonge Street) is 31 seconds. As of today, the longest wait for a green light will stretch to 57 seconds, and green lights for drivers will also be five to eight seconds shorter.

D: disliked by cars but loved by walkers.

The scramble concept, long ago implemented in several other cities around the world, is also known as a "Barnes dance," after Henry Barnes, a traffic commissioner in Denver credited with coming up with the idea there in the 1950s and reportedly making pedestrians so happy they were "dancing in the streets."

D: before we get too worked up about drivers waiting for a minute- pedestrians wait 1-2 minutes at some crosswalks all the time. So suck it up!!!


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