Taking the Ambiguity Out of Crossing the Street, Adding it back Elsewhere

We don't need the Space Needle looming overhead to know we're in Seattle. We count on the minutia of the built environment to constantly remind us where we are. The shape of the curb, the width of the sidewalk, the placement and condition of the news boxes all serve to inform us, again and again, that we're home. We're in Seattle--a warm and familiar place--where we have friends and responsibilities. We know we're expected somewhere and we'll be missed if we don't show because when we're crossing the street we see the little, white walk-y guy change to a flashing, red hand-y thing and we better get our ass out of the intersection before we get a stern looking at by the drivers waiting to turn. When the curbs roll up to the sidewalk at a different angle and they're painted blue or something and the bus pulls up with some payment box of the future that only accepts smart cards purchased with giant two-tone coins next to the driver we know, hey, we're in Vancouver or Shanghai or somewhere besides Seattle because what is this weird shit. Or if the crosswalk sign starts suddenly counting down to doomsday while we're in the middle of the street and we get all disoriented and don't know if we should dive back towards the curb from whence we came or if we should simply fall down in the street cursing the strangeness of it all. So not Seattle! Get us out of here!

These countdown crosswalk lights appeared at 1st and Marion recently. We're all discombobulated at an intersection that we thought loved us.

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By Dan in Miscellaneous, News on April 19, 2007 10:08 AM

Comments [rss]

Musely

You know you're in Seattle when people actually *stop* and wait for the ped light signals to change, even when there's no traffic coming.

Everytime I go to Portland or Vancouver, it always takes me a few crossings to adjust. For the first few, I'm always standing obediently at the curb, as people walk past and cross on both sides, leaving me wondering what's going on... and then I realize - oh, of course, We're not in Seattle anymore, Toto...

And if you do spot an out-of-towner crossing against the signal here, even when there's no traffic for blocks around, don't forget to give them the disapproving "that's-not-how-we-do-things-here" stare.

They have similar count-down signals in Dublin, Ireland - but there, they count down the time remaining till you *can* cross - the opposite to here. Jaywalking is a given in Dublin - and Dubliners are impatient; so if you want them to hold off on crossing the street, you've got to let them know that it won't be for too long...

Matt the Engineer

Don't get me started on those. There are clear design decisions that the city makes that places the car far over the pedestrian.

Take the light on 6th between 1 Union Square and the Hilton (ok, an odd one, but anything very popular and they don't have a push button). In theory there is no need for a delay. When the button is pushed there is clearly a person ready and waiting to cross. But does the light turn yellow then red immediately? No - it waits about an entire minute. So even though it would be perfectly useful on the walking part of my commute, I go out of my way and wait at the corner where at least I might get lucky and find it to have a walking light.

Erik

The countdowns at intersections are routine in Washington DC. Presumably there are data somewhere about their effectiveness, but from my own visits there I can say, they're grrreat!

Next, could we get rid of those push-button-for-walk-signal horrors? I hate arriving at one of those intersections too late, and having to wait through a-whole-nother cycle.

jason

You are correct MvB, the countdown is to tell you how much longer you have to get through the intersection you were in once the hand starts to flash. Not to encourage you to pick up the pace in order to get to the other side of the street while one is still on the sidewalk.

Instead of seeing if one can dart to the other side of the road before the blinking becomes solid, let's stop and wait for the next light and let traffic flow the way the city engineer intended it to.

MvB

To me it looks like entrapment: it's illegal to enter the crosswalk once the red guy starts flashing no matter how many seconds you have left. I guess the timer is to speed you up while you're crossing, but all it really seems to do is make you think, "3 seconds left? I can do that," and so entice you into a jaywalking ticket.

Dan

Actually I like em too. Nothing worse than deciding not to walk against the flashing hand and sitting there while it flashes, and flashes, and flashes, and flashes, and finally changes.

Matt the Engineer

I like them. I often arrive at an intersection not knowing how long the hand has been flashing. If it just started I could have made it, but if it's about to turn solid I'm surely risking a stern look from a driver (the horror!), even if I run. Sometimes I misjudge it completely, run across the intersection, and arrive well before the flashing stops - feeling like a sucker over the wasted effort.

But with the nice new numbers I know at a glance whether to keep walking.

josh

might be new to first & marion, but these have been popping at other intersections. I think the one by the bus tunnel (at 9th) has been around for about five years.