4 ms·

>In less dense areas, buttons should change the light more or less immediately to allow pedestrian crossing. I'm not sure I understand the reasoning for this.

>In less dense areas, buttons should change the light more or less immediately to allow pedestrian crossing. I'm not sure I understand the reasoning for this. If a car approaches a less-busy intersection it triggers the lights to cycle, but not immediately. I'm not sure why pedestrians would get such priority, rather being placed into the natural cycle. FWIW I just came back from Thailand and it was rather eye opening - crosswalks are ignored by motorists, and there's much less hand-holding, but people manage to get by. There's more give-and-take rather than rigid rule following.

thesh4d0w 3y ago
> but people manage to get by You might think so, until you look up the accident rates. https://www.roadsafetyfacility.org/country/thailand https://www.roadsafetyfacility.org/country/thailand
bobthepanda 3y ago
In the Netherlands, bicycles and pedestrians get default priority, and often car lights go green when they detect a car in a loop in time for the car to reach the intersection. This setup as I understand is preferred because it aligns with their modal priorities, and it is easier and more reliable to detect a heavy metal car than a person or a bicycle.
standardUser 3y ago
Depending on the intersection, having a pedestrian crossing as part of the cycle can slow the flow of traffic. Instead of having it cycle for pedestrians every time, even when no one is there, the button can interrupt the normal cycle and allow the pedestrian to cross. But most of the time, the intersection will be working optimally for cars, since we're assuming pedestrians are few and far between. I feel like I've seen a lot of these intersections near freeways in strip-mall type areas. Except the way they function currently, that occasional pedestrian has to potentially wait a long time.
a4000 3y ago
I also just got back from Bangkok and frankly crossing busy streets is one of the worst aspects of the place, it really makes it very difficult to easily get around on foot and you are really placing a lot of faith that drivers are actually paying attention when you step out onto a main road.
julian_t 3y ago
When I worked in Mumbai it took me about two weeks to learn how to cross the street: just walk out into the traffic with your hand up, and everyone goes round you. Everyone ignores the lights, so you just need to take your chances. I got hit by mirrors a couple of times, but since everyone expects to see pedestrians in the road it generally works. New York though... so often I'm crossing on green and there's some truck edging round the corner into my path, driver making eye contact, daring me to try to make him stop.

thesh4d0w 3y ago

> but people manage to get by You might think so, until you look up the accident rates. https://www.roadsafetyfacility.org/country/thailand https://www.roadsafetyfacility.org/country/thailand

bobthepanda 3y ago

In the Netherlands, bicycles and pedestrians get default priority, and often car lights go green when they detect a car in a loop in time for the car to reach the intersection. This setup as I understand is preferred because it aligns with their modal priorities, and it is easier and more reliable to detect a heavy metal car than a person or a bicycle.

standardUser 3y ago

Depending on the intersection, having a pedestrian crossing as part of the cycle can slow the flow of traffic. Instead of having it cycle for pedestrians every time, even when no one is there, the button can interrupt the normal cycle and allow the pedestrian to cross. But most of the time, the intersection will be working optimally for cars, since we're assuming pedestrians are few and far between. I feel like I've seen a lot of these intersections near freeways in strip-mall type areas. Except the way they function currently, that occasional pedestrian has to potentially wait a long time.

a4000 3y ago

I also just got back from Bangkok and frankly crossing busy streets is one of the worst aspects of the place, it really makes it very difficult to easily get around on foot and you are really placing a lot of faith that drivers are actually paying attention when you step out onto a main road.

julian_t 3y ago

When I worked in Mumbai it took me about two weeks to learn how to cross the street: just walk out into the traffic with your hand up, and everyone goes round you. Everyone ignores the lights, so you just need to take your chances. I got hit by mirrors a couple of times, but since everyone expects to see pedestrians in the road it generally works. New York though... so often I'm crossing on green and there's some truck edging round the corner into my path, driver making eye contact, daring me to try to make him stop.