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Seems to me they could put blinders on the crosswalk timers so they are only visible from the corner and not from the middle of the street. They already often d

Seems to me they could put blinders on the crosswalk timers so they are only visible from the corner and not from the middle of the street. They already often do similar things to left turn lane arrows (so that when you aren't turning left you don't see green out of the corner of your eye and jump the gun).

lotharbot 12y ago
As a driver, I really like these timers. I can see from a block away that I've got 15 seconds (and will make it comfortably) or 2 seconds (and may as well slow down now since I won't be anywhere close). As long as the blinders weren't too restrictive, my use case would still be viable.
- angersock 12y ago
  That's exactly the use case that they caution about--drivers at different distances interpreting the signals differently, causing accidents.
  - lotharbot 12y ago
    The use case they caution about is drivers reacting suddenly to short clocks -- flooring it or slamming on the brakes -- when they're very close to each other. They're talking about how people react to a "2" when they're 2.1 seconds away from the intersection and right on somebody else's tail. I'm talking about reacting from a long distance out by subtly adjusting speed (obviously in conjunction with reading traffic -- you don't accelerate if there's a vehicle right in front of you.) If you're 10 seconds out and see a 2, there's no differential reaction, likewise if you're 10 seconds out and see a 20. Even if you're 10 seconds out and see a 9, the difference between "slight acceleration" and "slight touch on the brakes" isn't significant unless you're already driving too close for the circumstances I drive under.
baddox 12y ago
I've never seen a normal intersection where the pedestrian timers are visible to the drivers that are driving on the same road the pedestrians are crossing. The pedestrian timers are always lights behind a direction grill. I suppose the problem could manifest for drivers wanting to turn onto the road the pedestrians are crossing, or strange intersections where the angle of intersection is far from 90 degrees.

lotharbot 12y ago

As a driver, I really like these timers. I can see from a block away that I've got 15 seconds (and will make it comfortably) or 2 seconds (and may as well slow down now since I won't be anywhere close). As long as the blinders weren't too restrictive, my use case would still be viable.

angersock 12y ago
That's exactly the use case that they caution about--drivers at different distances interpreting the signals differently, causing accidents.
- lotharbot 12y ago
  The use case they caution about is drivers reacting suddenly to short clocks -- flooring it or slamming on the brakes -- when they're very close to each other. They're talking about how people react to a "2" when they're 2.1 seconds away from the intersection and right on somebody else's tail. I'm talking about reacting from a long distance out by subtly adjusting speed (obviously in conjunction with reading traffic -- you don't accelerate if there's a vehicle right in front of you.) If you're 10 seconds out and see a 2, there's no differential reaction, likewise if you're 10 seconds out and see a 20. Even if you're 10 seconds out and see a 9, the difference between "slight acceleration" and "slight touch on the brakes" isn't significant unless you're already driving too close for the circumstances I drive under.

baddox 12y ago

I've never seen a normal intersection where the pedestrian timers are visible to the drivers that are driving on the same road the pedestrians are crossing. The pedestrian timers are always lights behind a direction grill. I suppose the problem could manifest for drivers wanting to turn onto the road the pedestrians are crossing, or strange intersections where the angle of intersection is far from 90 degrees.