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I'm curious where you live and what the signals are like there, because what you describe is how almost all the traffic signals I see work. When the light is g

I'm curious where you live and what the signals are like there, because what you describe is how almost all the traffic signals I see work. When the light is green on the N-S street, pedestrians have the right of way to cross N and S (on the E and W sides of the intersection). Cars going straight N and S also have the right of way, and cars can turn left or right from the N-S street after they yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians. There are a few intersections in Ontario with a dedicated phase for crossing in any direction, including diagonally, but they're rare. Anyway, I bet the different ways traffic signals work inform people's perception of traffic and streets in different places.

chrisseaton 7y ago
> I'm curious where you live and what the signals are like there In the UK. Where I am if there is a light for a pedestrian to cross that guarantees no car will be trying to cross your path. I feel like you shouldn’t show a pedestrian a light if cars are still allowed to cross their path! Seems dangerous and misleading and it scares me every time. In most cases what happens here is that the whole intersection gets stopped for pedestrians periodically, so you can cross diagonally as well. Why isn’t that popular in North America? Trying to interleave cars and pedestrians and let cars edge towards you menacingly as they try to turn across your path is absolute madness to me.
- Symbiote 7y ago
  I don't know how common each system is worldwide, but the UK system (no traffic against a "green man") is different to the system in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and California ("green man" but turning traffic must give way to pedestrians). I do prefer the UK way, but the downside in a car-centric place like most of Britain is there's much less time for pedestrians to cross. You often wait over a minute for the pedestrian light to go green.
- smcl 7y ago
  This is relatively normal in European mainland and it drives me daft. When both cars and pedestrians are technically "green" the cars should be extra cautious and slow down when they see someone approaching the crossing, but they just plough on through as they know no normal person will risk walking in front of a car going 30-40mph.

chrisseaton 7y ago

> I'm curious where you live and what the signals are like there In the UK. Where I am if there is a light for a pedestrian to cross that guarantees no car will be trying to cross your path. I feel like you shouldn’t show a pedestrian a light if cars are still allowed to cross their path! Seems dangerous and misleading and it scares me every time. In most cases what happens here is that the whole intersection gets stopped for pedestrians periodically, so you can cross diagonally as well. Why isn’t that popular in North America? Trying to interleave cars and pedestrians and let cars edge towards you menacingly as they try to turn across your path is absolute madness to me.

Symbiote 7y ago
I don't know how common each system is worldwide, but the UK system (no traffic against a "green man") is different to the system in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and California ("green man" but turning traffic must give way to pedestrians). I do prefer the UK way, but the downside in a car-centric place like most of Britain is there's much less time for pedestrians to cross. You often wait over a minute for the pedestrian light to go green.
smcl 7y ago
This is relatively normal in European mainland and it drives me daft. When both cars and pedestrians are technically "green" the cars should be extra cautious and slow down when they see someone approaching the crossing, but they just plough on through as they know no normal person will risk walking in front of a car going 30-40mph.