Local council member of a city with population of 60k wants to look at putting a pedestrian scramble, where pedestrians get their own phase and can cross in the middle of the road. Chciago and LA are two cities I know have them. I do not think this is needed, but council members know all.
However, I can't find any design information or warrant information, i.e., must have 300 peds crossing per hour, etc. Anyone have anything?
There is a pedestrian scramble close to the university I attend that I pass through on a daily basis. On one side of the scramble, there is a sign that tells cyclists to follow the pedestrian signal instead of the regular traffic signal. This is because there is a two-way bicycle lane the runs into the scramble, presumably to avoid conflicts between right-turning drivers and cyclists in that lane. photo for reference
The thing is, I assumed that bicycles could just proceed ahead on a pedestrian scramble on the same cycle as pedestrians, and so I've been doing that both on the side of the intersection in question and on the opposite side. However, a policeman stopped me earlier tonight and said that I had run a red light (even though the traffic light was red for the pedestrian scramble cycle, the pedestrian light was a flashing red hand with 15 or so seconds left on the timer), and proceeded to give me a warning. I was confused about this, given the sign at the opposite side of the intersection, but I decided not to bring it up (lest I end up receiving a giant citation).
The question is, was the policeman right or am I right on this issue? If you bike to a pedestrian scramble, do you stop like a car at the red light or do you go at the same time as the "all walk" signal? What do you guys think?
EDIT: the TRAFFIC light was red, the pedestrian light still indicated there was some time left to cross the street.
EDIT #2: I went to my university's police station today and asked about this scenario. The police officer told me that the sign only applied to that particular side of the intersection and that bikes approaching from elsewhere must obey the regular signal. I think there should be better signage or dedicated traffic signals, but oh well.
Are the cross walks still on after the scramble ends? I feel like people are still crossing and it ends up being just as slow. For example. After the scramble ends, the crosslights for one side stay on and late pedestrians are still holding up the lanes
I was wondering if anyone had observations on the pedestrian scramble that has been in place a few months at NW 11th and Couch.
My take is that it has not improved much. I have stood around there a few times and it seems that pedestrians still don't completely get it. The way it cycles is that all walk signs turn to "Walk", then the perpendicular walk sign and the walk sign to the east of the intersection turn red, allowing cars to make the left there. The issue seems to be that pedestrians still cross when the walk sign is not illuminated for them, backing up the streetcar and traffic.
The light definitely helps the cars on Couch cross 11th or make the turn onto it, so that's nice. Cars on 11th still seem to block the intersection with abandon, mucking it up for everyone else.
Anyone else have thoughts on it? Interested to know what people think who walk that area frequently.
What is everyone's opinions on pedestrian scramble (all ways) crosswalks. From my time living in other cities I found I really enjoyed them being there and found it made both cross and in some ways driving a bit easier as it made turns a heck of a lot easier having to worry less about pedestrians rushing out that the last minute. I'm wondering how beneficial they would be here. I'm thinking about intersections such as Gateway and Whyte, Calgary Trail and Whyte, and others that see exceptionally high vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Just wondering why Vancouver doesn't have any pedestrian scrambles here on some of the major intersections? I think it would help drivers trying to turn right on a green, could help speed up traffic during rush hours, and would get pedestrians across safer. Trying to turn right on some corners is frustrating, especially The ones that start walking after the flashing hand or the countdown, it just seems like a logical way to move people and cars conveniently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_scramble
A friend commented that the bus he was on had to wait through three light cycles just for his bus to turn right because the driver had to wait for pedestrians. That seems inefficient. Shouldn't transit agencies looking for greater system performance advocate for pedestrian scramble mode signals because it will help both modes get where they need to, safely? Many pedestrians are struck in crosswalks while they have the light due to inattentive drivers, making a scramble mode quite attractive by eliminating car conflict. Scramble could be controlled to only happen during rush hour, or during special events like sports games (serious congestion issues near stadiums) or, hey, when a bus is present.
I'm reading up on signal warrants for pedestrian scramble mode, but wonder if this type of warrant will be left out.
Thoughts on the subject title? TIA.
