Can anyone point me at any studies or evidence which show that reducing the pedestrian wait time to a minimum, at push-button operated crossings, reduces safety and/or driver compliance? Thank you. Did
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
I’d assume that it would increase both safety and compliance: pedestrians more likely to cross on their green rather than legging it across in a gap, meaning red for drivers less likely to be a pointless, too!
(Also had 3 drivers run a zebra I was at on Sunday, then 1 jump a long wait red light)
Sorry - “it” - shortening pedestrian wait times at crossings to minimum possible.
Beg buttons mean there’s pretty much always a wait in a way there isn’t for drivers, too - by definition you’ll never arrive on green (unless someone else pushed the button, or it’s one that’s on a junction sequence)
Locally to me the 'call-for-green' button had a fixed delay of 45 seconds before signalling green to pedestrians to cross. In last couple of years that has changed to immediate signalling green (except for some delay if there has just been another green phase).
So much better.
Wow. Can you come and talk to my council? Our closest crossings have fixed 40 second and 30+ second delays respectively. Sooooo annoying especially when it’s raining (both flood so you get splooshed loads by drivers, too…)
In Essex, we have crossings (mostly toucan ones) that cancels any request to cross if roads are busy so not delay the drivers. Been times we can wait upto 3 minutes to try cross.
In Chelmsford there's a raised pedestrian crossing out front of the shopping centre, it's default green for pedestrians & only changes when vehicles approach down the road solely for buses or access for deliveries. Pedestrians continue to cross on red for them too.
And just found out that it's called a Green Person Authority crossing from this video, not so new as they think tho as I know this one in Chelmsford is over 15yrs old. Interesting video too. https://youtu.be/K1VBCjEcyJE?si=cU10FW84d7run1iQ
As an able-bodied adult, I only started complying with 'the red man' when I was setting a good example to my then young child. Now she is a teen, both of us cross on red like all the other pedestrians.
Please share if you find it. I’m interested in whether the measurement of safety includes pedestrian anxiety, and is reported by aged deciles. My prior is that any measure of averages would disguise significant age-based variation in effect (where age is a proxy for mobility).
Ooh! does anyone have info about implementing these in cities with trams? There are some terribly long waits in Sheffield and I can imagine the trams would be used as a reason not to, given the mazes of pedestrian barriers and hostile paving that surround the tracks.
"the data is encouraging: there is virtually no impact on traffic, and pedestrians save a total of 1.3 hours a day at the average crossing and are 13% more likely to comply with traffic signals."
There are some many pointless traffic lights at the moment that don’t serve either the pedestrian or driver well as they take too long to change and the pedestrians are long gone by the time they do.
A local crossing has been swapped from 2 crossings with a central reservation to a single one straight across. Easier for mobility scooters &
pushchairs BUT only way of crossing within the time is
by being fit & active. Wait time between green men is huge too Links GP surgery to pharmacy via A road
I thought activating those buttons didn't effect the lighting sequencing at all? I thought it was just a way of activating the visual indicators for pedestrians??
Here's a three-stage crossing in Stockport. The bottom two alternate with a green pedestrian stage regardless of whether a request has been made (because the traffic movements are conflicting). The top one is across a bus lane and defaults to green.
Near my house, there's one which stops cars the instant I press; one which has no effect, green man activates on preset traffic phasing; one which stops cars when there are no cars, unless no big gaps for 2mins, then it finally changes. Planners give too much weight to smooth traffic flow imho.
Comments
(Also had 3 drivers run a zebra I was at on Sunday, then 1 jump a long wait red light)
Beg buttons mean there’s pretty much always a wait in a way there isn’t for drivers, too - by definition you’ll never arrive on green (unless someone else pushed the button, or it’s one that’s on a junction sequence)
So much better.
If traffic is all red, it's an immediate swap to a green cross signal 👨🍳 💋
As an able-bodied adult, I only started complying with 'the red man' when I was setting a good example to my then young child. Now she is a teen, both of us cross on red like all the other pedestrians.
"the data is encouraging: there is virtually no impact on traffic, and pedestrians save a total of 1.3 hours a day at the average crossing and are 13% more likely to comply with traffic signals."
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/29/1054565/london-traffic-lights-pedestrians/
pushchairs BUT only way of crossing within the time is
by being fit & active. Wait time between green men is huge too Links GP surgery to pharmacy via A road
Yes, it's a horrible road.