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Previous: Bellsouth errors in Miami | Main | Next: Monterey parking curb-sign
October 5, 2005 12:03 AM
Broken: Hidden walk sign
Matthew Stoval asks:
Is it safe to cross? Who knows?
An intersection without a traffic light!? Is that from some third-world country or something? /sarcasm
Does anyone even look at the walk signs? Most people I know just look at the traffic light, if traffic is moving in the same direction you are, then walk. If it's moving perpendicular to your point of travel, just wait for a break in traffic and walk, or wait until they get a red light.
most small towns don't have 'walk - don't walk' signs, what's the use if you only have 10 cars at rush hour? what's broken here anyways?
What's broken here, tictic, is that the town spent taxpayer's money to erect a walk/don't walk sign, then allowed the tree to hide it.
They might as well have just burned the money they spent.
Some towns even put loud bells on their walk/don't walk signs for the blind to be able to cross safely. Start walking when the bell rings (and hope no one is making a right turn on red). Broken!
I find all crossings here in the US to be broken. When the sign tells you it's safe to cross, cars are allowed to turn the corner to run you over.
In smaller towns, drivers tend to be polite and know that it's considered rude to drive a car or truck into a crowd of people. But here in New York you are more likely to find yourself under some soccer mom's SUV or a taxi than safely at the other side.
Mrs. Williams- A little-known fact is that the Department of Money-Burning is one of the govt's largest and best-funded programs!
"and hope no one is making a right turn on red"
Lights never tell you if it's safe to cross, they only tell you if you have the right-of-way. You also have to hope that nobody going perpendicular to you is going to run the red light. If someone is making a right turn on red, it is their responsibility to check if it's clear for them to do so. If they manage to run over a blind pedestrian who is responding to the sound of the bell, then it's clearly their fault.
Looks to me like there is a "?" in the walk/don't walk sign. If the sign can't tell you when to walk, who can? Broken.
Interlard: Argh, I find that particularly annoying as well-- especially given that a car *behind* you can unexpectedly end up turning in front of you while you're trying to cross. Well, yeah, I'd have seen the turn signal if I had eyes in the back of my head...
Around here at least, pedestrians have the right of way. If a vehicle strikes a pedestrian, the driver is at fault always.
Slim comfort when you're laid up in the hospital, or dead...
That's not the problem at all rockers; the problem is that there is a button to push that tells you wheather to cross that doesn't seem to do anything, or if it does, the display is hidden. Some commenters say it's behind the tree, but I can't see it. Oh well.
josh, we're looking at how easy it isn’t to see the invisible walk sign, which has been hidden behind a tree for pedestrian convenience.
Well from looking at the photo it looks like it's been photoshopped...The D.O.T. specifies the height of crosswalk signs and if that picture is valid that would put the Walk/Don't Walk sign about 30' off the ground... What's broken is the photographers need to post an obviously edited photo just to get some screen time here.
Off topic, but look at our new ad. "What does E=mc2 really mean?" What it means is that the advertiser didn't know how to use superscript.
Maybe it's a bad photo, but it doesn't look like the tree is hiding anything to me. Why do we assume there ought to be a traffic signal anyway? The control box is obviously for people on the other side of the street and probably operates a signal off the right edge of the photo.
Whats broken is this site. the last few "this is broken entries have been pretty lame. this being the lamest, following that stupid stop sign.
The walk sign is hidden behind a tree. The thing is that most people can't comprehend that the button does do something. It tells the traffic light's computer that you want to cross, so you will get a walk signal. Here in AZ, some lights remain on Don't Walk and never change until you hit the button. Don't even attempt to cross on the Don't Walk, because the light will turn red when you get to the middle, because the light doesn't know a pedestrian is crossing the road. Traffic engineers have it planned out pretty good, its the people who use them who mess it up. Most traffic signals use sensors for cars, and buttons for pedestrians. When there are no cars left on teh sensor, the traffic light will instantly go red, and opposing traffic is given a green light. Also, it is illegal here to cross when the Don't Walk light is on, and can carry a fine of $91 to $250. They do not consider this jaywalking, rather "Disobedience of traffic controls." Jaywalking with no light is nothing but a $5 fine. But they consider a light something is commanding you to do something, hence the higher fine.
Does anyone even look at the walk signs? Most people I know just look at the traffic light, if traffic is moving in the same direction you are, then walk. If it's moving perpendicular to your point of travel, just wait for a break in traffic and walk, or wait until they get a red light.
Posted by: Joshua Wood at Oct 5, 2005
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It is people like you who make a traffic engineer's job hard. Traffic engineers expect everyone to follow their lights to maintain good traffic flow. The Don't Walk lights are installed so the sensors can work properly. Most traffic signals these days rely on sensors to detect traffic, and buttons to detect pedestrians. Not pushing a button, may result in the light giving a green arrow to left turning traffic, having the light instantly turn red, or having a cop on the other side hand you a nice big ticket.
Lady Jane: Some towns even put loud bells on their walk/don't walk signs for the blind to be able to cross safely. Start walking when the bell rings (and hope no one is making a right turn on red). Broken!
****
True, some cross-walks are like that (especially in the big cities) most aren't.
OK, We'll go through this again:
Hold my hand. Stop at the corner. Look in all directions for traffic. None coming? It's safe to cross. See an unoccupied garbage truck carreening down the hill towards the intersection? Then it's NOT safe to cross.
Don't they teach this in pre-school?
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: Bellsouth errors in Miami | Main | Next: Monterey parking curb-sign
better not risk it. just stand there and hope a taxi comes along.
Posted by: gmangw at October 5, 2005 12:20 AM