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Away from the lights you have 2 directions to check for traffic from. At an intersection you have to be aware of people coming from 4 directions potentially tur

Away from the lights you have 2 directions to check for traffic from. At an intersection you have to be aware of people coming from 4 directions potentially turning towards you.

chrisseaton 8y ago
Just wait for your turn to cross at the lights? People don’t often just full on run red lights do they?
- war1025 8y ago
  The walk light will often be on at the same time as the green light for drivers going the same direction. Sometimes a turning driver won't notice you. Doesn't happen that often, but happens often enough that you have to be aware of it. A lot of times it is just easier to cross in the middle of a block because you have a much better buffer area where random cars can't pop out from. Obviously it depends on the particular road. If it is some 6 lane wide main thoroughfare, I'd probably opt for the cross walk.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    > The walk light will often be on at the same time as the green light for drivers going the same direction. Well that’s just bonkers. Where I live when a pedestrian wants to cross the lights stop all cars for the duration.
  - choward 8y ago
    Exactly. Turning cars are by far the biggest problem.
- Jtsummers 8y ago
  They may not fully run it, but they often stop in the crosswalk here (GA). I live in a very walkable area and have to be very careful crossing the one major busy street even when they don’t run the light. By the time I’m confident they will actually stop, the light is almost ready to change again.
- apathy 8y ago
  Yes, regularly.
- MaulingMonkey 8y ago
  We have legal right turns on red here. Cars will look left for a gap, and not notice the pedestrian crossing to their right when the light turns green & walk at the same time. Distracted people might not go until the light turns green (no arrow, so they're supposed to yield), and not notice the pedestrian trying to cross when they got the walk symbol. Compounding matters - several drivers don't stop before the crosswalk like they're supposed to, so people in the rightmost lane go even farther into the crosswalk so they can look left for gaps in traffic - often fast enough they don't have time to react to pedestrians. Cars turning left on green (but no arrow) often won't notice crossing pedestrians they're supposed to yield to either. They may stop, but now they're blocking oncoming traffic (often hazardous), so they're likely to try and clear the intersection if they feel there's enough room. Of course, they're probably also blocking the visibility of the person tailgaiting them, who will also go through the intersection as a result, enough room or not. All that turning traffic accounts for 3 of the directions you have to check with a valid walk signal (everything but orthogonal traffic coming from the opposite side of the road) - the 4th comes from people running the tail end of red lights, which happens pretty frequently too. Even ignoring illegally short yellow light timings, people will try to squeeze in. Vroom vroom.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    If you’re allowed to turn right while lights are red for pedestrians that only means one lane can cross your path if you’re a pedestrian - the lane your sidewalk runs alongside.
    - MaulingMonkey 8y ago
      In this diagram: https://i.imgur.com/0Smz0Nk.png https://i.imgur.com/0Smz0Nk.png Legal right on red is contributing to the behavior of the car driving east and turning south (who hasn't noticed they now have a green light), as well as the the car driving north and turning east (who's LOS is blocked by a truck, SUV, small van with tinted windows, etc. and is pushing that far up so they can see left enough to spot a gap which they can use to turn right on red)
      - 8y ago
stretchwithme 8y ago
I wonder how things would go if many streets had pedestrian crossings were in the middle of blocks and the corners where traffic circles. You couldn't do that everywhere because of buses and truck and other long vehicles. Maybe if you could also drive over the center of them. We have a circle like that here.

Away from the lights you have 2 directions to check for traffic from. At an intersection you have to be aware of people coming from 4 directions potentially turning towards you.

chrisseaton 8y ago

Just wait for your turn to cross at the lights? People don’t often just full on run red lights do they?

war1025 8y ago
The walk light will often be on at the same time as the green light for drivers going the same direction. Sometimes a turning driver won't notice you. Doesn't happen that often, but happens often enough that you have to be aware of it. A lot of times it is just easier to cross in the middle of a block because you have a much better buffer area where random cars can't pop out from. Obviously it depends on the particular road. If it is some 6 lane wide main thoroughfare, I'd probably opt for the cross walk.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  > The walk light will often be on at the same time as the green light for drivers going the same direction. Well that’s just bonkers. Where I live when a pedestrian wants to cross the lights stop all cars for the duration.
- choward 8y ago
  Exactly. Turning cars are by far the biggest problem.
Jtsummers 8y ago
They may not fully run it, but they often stop in the crosswalk here (GA). I live in a very walkable area and have to be very careful crossing the one major busy street even when they don’t run the light. By the time I’m confident they will actually stop, the light is almost ready to change again.
apathy 8y ago
Yes, regularly.
MaulingMonkey 8y ago
We have legal right turns on red here. Cars will look left for a gap, and not notice the pedestrian crossing to their right when the light turns green & walk at the same time. Distracted people might not go until the light turns green (no arrow, so they're supposed to yield), and not notice the pedestrian trying to cross when they got the walk symbol. Compounding matters - several drivers don't stop before the crosswalk like they're supposed to, so people in the rightmost lane go even farther into the crosswalk so they can look left for gaps in traffic - often fast enough they don't have time to react to pedestrians. Cars turning left on green (but no arrow) often won't notice crossing pedestrians they're supposed to yield to either. They may stop, but now they're blocking oncoming traffic (often hazardous), so they're likely to try and clear the intersection if they feel there's enough room. Of course, they're probably also blocking the visibility of the person tailgaiting them, who will also go through the intersection as a result, enough room or not. All that turning traffic accounts for 3 of the directions you have to check with a valid walk signal (everything but orthogonal traffic coming from the opposite side of the road) - the 4th comes from people running the tail end of red lights, which happens pretty frequently too. Even ignoring illegally short yellow light timings, people will try to squeeze in. Vroom vroom.
- chrisseaton 8y ago
  If you’re allowed to turn right while lights are red for pedestrians that only means one lane can cross your path if you’re a pedestrian - the lane your sidewalk runs alongside.
  - MaulingMonkey 8y ago
    In this diagram: https://i.imgur.com/0Smz0Nk.png https://i.imgur.com/0Smz0Nk.png Legal right on red is contributing to the behavior of the car driving east and turning south (who hasn't noticed they now have a green light), as well as the the car driving north and turning east (who's LOS is blocked by a truck, SUV, small van with tinted windows, etc. and is pushing that far up so they can see left enough to spot a gap which they can use to turn right on red)
    - 8y ago

stretchwithme 8y ago

I wonder how things would go if many streets had pedestrian crossings were in the middle of blocks and the corners where traffic circles. You couldn't do that everywhere because of buses and truck and other long vehicles. Maybe if you could also drive over the center of them. We have a circle like that here.