Leading Pedestrian Intervals: A solution to Halifax’s Crosswalk problem
abovethefray.blog/2019/06/24/leading-pedestri...
abovethefray.blogPosted Jul 14, 2019, 4:12 AM UTC
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abovethefray.blogAs one does late on a Saturday night, I was doing some reading about Heads Up Halifax and came across this blog post. I like the leading intervals that have been implemented and would like to see the program expanded. I do agree with the author, though, and think that the current timings are too short. Thoughts?
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think that the current timings are too short
Which intersections. I can't speak for Dartmouth or Sackville, but every intersection on the peninsula seems to have decent timing. The Almon/Windsor is downright generous.
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They have been ok for the most part but I've had a few experiences with these where the driver sees the walk sign, ignores the red, and still tries to to turn right into me as I'm crossing.
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They're already testing it at a few intersections around the city.
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The worst intersection they’re doing this at imo is Windsor and Almon.
Trying to make a left from Windsor onto Almon is absurd at times. There’s been days where you can only get one car making a left turn through per light cycle, and they have to go when the light turns yellow or even red (if thorough traffic doesn’t stop on the yellow).
Add in the extended crossing time at the start and the fact that when the crosswalk displays the do not cross sign the light turns to red and it’s just brutal on days with decent pedestrian usage and heavy traffic.
That light needs an advance left turn or at least some time with no crossing allowed imo.
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They should do what they do at the Willow Tree, where the left turn arrow is at the end of the light cycle rather than the beginning. That would accommodate the advance pedestrian crossing, and also allow for left turning traffic to get through the intersection.
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Intersections where the green for motorists lasts for a few seconds after the walk light goes out are a godsend.
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On the rare occasion that pedestrians actually obey the fact the walk signal is out.
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These are terrible. There’s about three scenarios that happen; 1 - they work as intended. This does happen on occasion, but only some of the time. 2 - as is often the case at windsor and almon there are no pedestrians crossing. I imagine throughout the daytime this happens less but at night it skews heavily to waste. I imagine it also happens less if anything is happening at the forum but then we’ll run into number 3. 3 - there are a bunch of pedestrians who get to start crossing early... and then the hand starts flashing and they KEEP crossing anyways right up until the red light for the cars. This happens a lot at spring garden and south park and was a large part of the problem before they implemented this.
No matter which scenario actually happens it impacts drivers despite what the article says. Its a simple mathematical truth that to add pedestrian only time to the cycle you either need to shorten the green lights or extend the cycle making the reds longer.
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I often get caught at one of them in the middle of the night. They should have them tied to buttons if it isn't a key time for pedestrians. I usually end up running the red (straight) when the crosswalks in my direction light up.
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Have anything other than anecdotes?
Intersections aren't just for the smooth, uninpeded flow of cars. You can wait for a pedestrian to cross, it won't hurt you.
All you're doing is making this conversation about cars and ignoring the point about making things safer for pedestrians.
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The city really should adjust the countdown cycle of pedestrian crossings to have it end earlier and allow time for a few vehicles to turn before the light cycle changes. Spring Garden and South Park is a great example where pedestrians start crossing during the count down cycle blocking traffic from clearing the intersection.
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They did. That’s part of the point of the advanced pedestrian signals. It just doesnt help when pedestrians walk right through the hand and are often still in the way when the other direction gets its green
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100%
Too bad pedestrians continue to walk on parallel green lights whether they are allowed to or not.
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It seems like such an incredibly simple and effective part of the solution to making our crosswalks a bit safer. I don’t know why the city does so much hand ringing before implementing things like this that exist in cities all around the world.