A prime
question for the driver approaching a green traffic light is: how
long will it stay that colour? One hint comes from the accompanying
pedestrian signal -- is the Walk symbol visible, or has a menacing
red hand started to flash? While not aimed at motorists, there’s a
new aid in the form of countdown timers appearing at intersections.
These special signals warn pedestrians how many seconds remain
before they must clear the crosswalk. While those five fingers are
blinking red, numeric digits also count off each second and hit zero
just as the traffic signal turns yellow.
The countdown
helps because many pedestrians and auto drivers seem confused by the
flashing hand. Many somehow feel it is illegal to be in the
crosswalk unless the white walking man is lit. Not so -- one may not
begin crossing after the hand appears, but a pedestrian already on
the pavement still has right of way. Motorists turning the corner
have no grounds to honk righteously. Consult the Drivers Handbook
online for proof.
The flashing
hand warns walkers to be hasty, and the countdown now tells exactly
how much haste to make. The timers are currently spreading through
Ontario, but I first encountered them in the States. Driving in
Washington DC, the signals helped me gauge the staleness of green
lights. When the first timers appeared in downtown Toronto in
December, I felt the dwindling seconds were an inducement to speed
up. Once I realized what I was doing, the urge to race the numbers
faded.
Other places
you might spot countdown signals are in York Region north of
Toronto, as well as in Burlington, Hamilton, Barrie and Windsor.
Ottawa is considering pilot tests and Gatineau across the river is
one of several Quebec cities with timers. British Columbia and
Alberta are getting them too, and China already has. Dublin
apparently features signals telling pedestrians how long they must
wait before crossing -- it seems impatient walkers get fed up
waiting on lengthy reds.
Toronto traffic
signal manager Bruce Zvaniga says Ontario’s capital has already
installed 250 countdown timers, and will add 540 more this year.
They are relatively inexpensive to put up, especially since crews
are gradually replacing older-style traffic lamps with LED lights
across the city. Work is proceeding clockwise westward from the
core, and all of Toronto’s 2,000 signalized intersections should be
fully equipped by 2009.
The number of
seconds shown reflects the width of the roadway, with roughly one
second given per meter. Zvaniga says drivers waiting to clear
intersections can “become quite aggressive” toward pedestrians once
the red flashing hand appears, but the timers indicate those on foot
have the right to finish crossing.
A recent study
of drivers and walkers in Peoria, Illinois showed countdowns can
enhance safety, and “no evidence of
increased risk-taking behavior on the part of the motorists was
observed.” Chi Lee, city traffic engineer for Red Deer,
Alberta reports timers were studied in 2003 for use in Canada. Out
of a range of field studies from many jurisdictions, he says two
indicated that the timers reduced pedestrian vehicle conflicts.
He says studies
showed a staggering “26 to 80 per cent of all pedestrians did not
understand the meaning of the conventional flashing hand display.”
In contrast, 50 to 97 per cent of pedestrians understood the
countdowns.
The clincher in
favour of the newfangled clocks? The proportion of teenagers
crossing properly increased by 20 per cent with timers, although
some teens were observed trying “to beat the light”, says Lee. Hey
-- it’s not a game, you whippersnappers.