Public Transportation and Smart Growth

Last edited Sat Mar 30, 2013, 12:28 AM - Edit history (1)

When full stops and lane clearances are the law, drivers behave differently. At simple painted crosswalks (as opposed to fully controlled ones) it's true that drivers must be aware of the potential for pedestrians. Most intersections with or without painted crosswalks are treated as crosswalks, so the properly cautious driver is ALWAYS looking for pedestrians. At fully controlled intersections, drivers tend to slow down rather than speed up on yellow lights to avoid being caught in the crosswalk when the lights change.

Cars wanting to execute a turn must wait until all pedestrian traffic is cleared before beginning the turn. Drivers caught between crosswalks are ripe for citation -IOW, the law views the driver as the problem, not the pedestrians.

BTW if traffic planners note that drivers can't execute turns because of high pedestrian volume, the usual solution is to add turn arrows to the traffic cycle.

As I wrote in your other thread, I'd like to see a return to all-direction stops when the pedestrian WALK cycle commences but I doubt that it will happen until urban traffic planning moves away from car-first thinking. I also think that right on red should be banned in congested areas. Much better to allow right on arrow instead.