It should not take three minutes to cross a road
Yet as @DrTCombs shows in this video, many road crossings are designed to make pedestrians wait at least that long before getting a walk signal.
This video shows one such crossing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but there are many more intersections like this across North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
https://urbanists.video/w/8esJ8mPNrRK2vzGekrKVKL
#cycling #pedestrians #walkablecities #walking #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #planning #bike #cycle #cities @fuck_cars @green @urbanism
@stuart @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green The term ‘jaywalking’ was invented by the automobile lobby, as was the idea that it’s illegal. In most cases, crossing outside a marked crossing or against a light is technically legal and always has been. But it could still get you killed.
Regardless, no kid should be required to use their own judgment to decide when to dart across a road.
@DrTCombs @stuart @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green “To avoid a (AUD) $52 fine for jaywalking, a pedestrian must be at least 20m from a set of traffic lights or a designated crossing.” - the rules in Queensland, Australia.
(Thanks for reminding me, after seven years living here, to look them up!)
@DrTCombs @stuart @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green As a pedestrian, you can also be fined if you cross an existing crossing on a red light signal, even if the countdown gives you enough time to cross safely, I discover. I thought the countdown was the important thing, not the red man. There’s another thing I do quite often then.
@james @DrTCombs @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green Wow - that’s pretty authoritarian, like mandating helmets for #cyclists. But is it enforced?
@stuart @james @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green my overwhelming hunch is that those fines have nothing to do with pedestrian safety and everything to do with getting the intersection clear so drivers aren’t inconvenienced for a split second.
@DrTCombs @james @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green Spot on. It was very evident when they reconfigured #Sydenham’s high street. The consultation was heavy on zebra crossings (pedestrian has priority). What happened The existing one was removed and we have controlled crossings with long lead times.
The justification was it maximised traffic flow essential for TfL buses at a South #London pinch point. Except we have parking bays on both sides when a bus lane would have solved that issue.
@stuart @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green “As University of Virginia historian Peter Norton explains in his book *Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City*, the notion of “jaywalking” — “jay” being an early 20th century term for someone stupid or unsophisticated — was introduced by a group of auto industry-aligned groups in the 1930s.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-16/jaywalking-laws-don-t-make-streets-safer
@stuart @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green (we try not to use the term here anymore)
@DrTCombs @ajsadauskas @fuck_cars @green Sorry but coming across the pond we used to told don’t jaywalk in the same sentence of never reach for the glovebox in the presence of a cop. Hope they are both myths but don’t want to be the one who finds out they may be not.
We have enough trouble with our own cops who can often ‘forget’ the law if they take against our cycling. But that has improved over the years.