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Crossing Streets


Alawyn-Aebt

Walk/Don't Walk Light  

99 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you obey it?

    • Always Yes
      14
    • Mostly Yes
      63
    • Mostly No
      16
    • Always No
      1
    • What is a Walk/Don't Walk Light?
      4
    • I Don't Walk Ever
      0
    • I ONLY Disobey Them, Even if Traffic is Coming
      1

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When you walk across a street and there is a walk/don't walk light, do you obey it or not?

 

My earliest and most common memories of large cities were in Chicago, and people always walked whenever it was clear, disobeying the walk/don't walk light. Now that I live closer to DC I have discovered that people in DC tend to have more respect for the walk/don't walk light (not everyone obeys it, but a fair number do). Even people at my college when crossing streets obey what the light says, even if no cars are visible (I would have assumed college students would be more lax about following the rules). People have actually looked at be weird when it says don't walk yet there are no cars.

 

So my question: do you obey the walk/don't walk light?

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Anthracite_Impreza

If there's no traffic, or I've got time? No. I rarely actually press the light cos I don't wanna be a pain in the arse stopping traffic when I can quite easily get over without; I only press it when the traffic is constant and no one's getting anywhere fast anyway.

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3 minutes ago, Anthracite_Impreza said:

If there's no traffic, or I've got time? No. I rarely actually press the light cos I don't wanna be a pain in the arse stopping traffic when I can quite easily get over without; I only press it when the traffic is constant and no one's getting anywhere fast anyway.

Wait wait wait, I thought the light only says "walk" when surrounding traffic lights have gone red, that's why you sometimes have to wait for so long. It's not stopping traffic for you, it's waiting until it knows surrounding traffic is stopped which means it's safe to walk. Or is it only in NZ that it does that? :o

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There is no jaywalking laws in the UK, and infact pedestrians technically have right of way on the roads here. So it's just a case of crossing when safe, even if it's a red man (we have red and green men instead of walk or don't walk lights). I've probably been more endangered by people not knowing better trying to stop me, and their effort stops me infront of cars I would of cleared safely.

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15 minutes ago, Aebt-Ætheling said:

do you obey the walk/don't walk light?

Yes because we only have them on really busy roads in the city. If I can see there's no traffic I can quickly run across, but all you need to do (here anyway) is look at the surrounding traffic lights. When they go orange, it means you can almost walk, and when they go red, that's when the man will go green and you can walk. And you know you'll be safe for like 30 seconds because surrounding traffic is stopped :P

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Anthracite_Impreza
Just now, Pan Ficto. (on hiatus?) said:

Wait wait wait, I thought the light only says "walk" when surrounding traffic lights have gone red, that's why you sometimes have to wait for so long. It's not stopping traffic for you, it's waiting until it knows surrounding traffic is stopped which means it's safe to walk. Or is it only in NZ that it does that? :o

We press the light, it waits a bit, traffic is on red, ped is on green. Unless it's an automatic one, in which case it's synched to all the other traffic lights.

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1 minute ago, Pan Ficto. (on hiatus?) said:

Wait wait wait, I thought the light only says "walk" when surrounding traffic lights have gone red, that's why you sometimes have to wait for so long. It's not stopping traffic for you, it's waiting until it knows surrounding traffic is stopped which means it's safe to walk. Or is it only in NZ that it does that? :o

Some places will have it go green\walk if traffic passing the crossing have a red light, even if other traffic at the same junction has a green. Mostly work with junctions of 1 way streets. But in those instances, pressing the button will wait until all traffic lights to turn red for green\walk lights.

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Just now, Anthracite_Impreza said:

We press the light, it waits a bit, traffic is on red, ped is on green. Unless it's an automatic one, in which case it's synched to all the other traffic lights.

I forgot about these versions. In the USA we don't have many of those.

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Just now, Anthracite_Impreza said:

We press the light, it waits a bit, traffic is on red, ped is on green. Unless it's an automatic one, in which case it's synched to all the other traffic lights.

It seems weird having to stop the traffic when the light can just wait for surrounding traffic to stop on a red light :o If I actually was forcefully stopping traffic, I would just wait because I wouldn't want to stop the traffic. But yeah here if you watch surrounding traffic lights, the man doesn't go green until the moment they all go red!!

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Anthracite_Impreza

I mean, I'm talking about things that are solely pedestrian crossings, not junctions, so they'd have no reason to be on red unless a pedestrian was actually waiting to cross.

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firewallflower

Mostly, yes. There are certain exceptions (e.g., there are some intersections where I know for a fact that the "don't walk" shows up well before any of the surrounding opposite-direction traffic lights will actually turn green, so if the main traffic light for my direction is still green, I may walk at those particular intersections), but by and large, I'll follow the rules.

 

Edit: At solely-pedestrian crosswalks (most of these don't have lights where I live, but there are a few), my usual strategy is to wait until it's clear and then push the button, as an extra precaution in case a car comes out of nowhere while I'm crossing. The majority of drivers around here don't seem to pay attention to pedestrian signs, though, even at lit and very obvious crosswalks, so if I were to just push the button and walk while there were still cars approaching, even though officially I'd have the right of way... not a good plan.

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It highly depends on where I am. Whether it’s considered normal to jaywalk or if the road is visibly safe. I don’t mind crossing when and where I’m not supposed to but take certain factors into consideration first.

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It depends on how easy it is to cross the street without waiting for the light, but mostly no, especially when on a bicycle, because you can quickly zip across the road when you're biking.

 

28 minutes ago, Pan Ficto. (on hiatus?) said:

Wait wait wait, I thought the light only says "walk" when surrounding traffic lights have gone red, that's why you sometimes have to wait for so long. It's not stopping traffic for you, it's waiting until it knows surrounding traffic is stopped which means it's safe to walk. Or is it only in NZ that it does that? :o

Don't know about New Zealand, but in the Netherlands if someone pushes the pedestrian button, then the traffic lights will give that pedestrian light a time slot where otherwise it wouldn't have had one, so yeah, you are slowing down traffic if you push the button. Why else would there be a button to push? 

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1 hour ago, Anthracite_Impreza said:

I mean, I'm talking about things that are solely pedestrian crossings, not junctions, so they'd have no reason to be on red unless a pedestrian was actually waiting to cross.

I think it must be a cultural difference because here every crossing over the road in the city is like.. for a pedestrian to cross? Not just junctions. But it's not safe due to traffic everywhere so every light is always on red unless someone pushes the button, and it goes green when all the traffic lights surrounding it go red. We have zebra crossings, but they don't come with a light lol you just have to wait until there's a gap of if a car wants to stop for you they will!

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1 hour ago, Pan Ficto. (on hiatus?) said:

Wait wait wait, I thought the light only says "walk" when surrounding traffic lights have gone red, that's why you sometimes have to wait for so long. It's not stopping traffic for you, it's waiting until it knows surrounding traffic is stopped which means it's safe to walk. Or is it only in NZ that it does that? :o

In the US, the traffic is never all red. You cross when cars are only turning onto your side rather than oncoming traffic. There will always be someone who has a green light while the pedestrian light allows you to cross. This is primarily because of the grid system, I assume. Both traffic and pedestrians, with square blocks each having a stop sign or traffic light, have to come to a complete stop frequently. Since roundabouts are not common, they need smaller ways to speed along the flow.

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58 minutes ago, Laurann said:

It depends on how easy it is to cross the street without waiting for the light, but mostly no, especially when on a bicycle, because you can quickly zip across the road when you're biking.

 

Don't know about New Zealand, but in the Netherlands if someone pushes the pedestrian button, then the traffic lights will give that pedestrian light a time slot where otherwise it wouldn't have had one, so yeah, you are slowing down traffic if you push the button. Why else would there be a button to push? 

Here, the button is there to push so you have an indication of when to cross safely. The traffic is just all over the place in the city, busses, taxis etc, so sometimes you can be waiting for like 5 minutes before the traffic lights all go red around you, then the man will quickly go green for you until one set of lights changes, then he starts flashing at you like crazy to hurry up lol!!!! But yeah, old people and kids etc get a bit confused with all the traffic everywhere, so they need the man to go green when all the surrounding lights are red otherwise you never know if a car is going to speed around the corner (because there may be a green traffic light you can't see so you'll be trying to cross and a car will zoom around and BAM!!!) That's why you always have to wait for the green man and quickly run across before he starts flashing manically at you!!! :P

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There are exceptions, and they're context dependent. In Gothenburg we crossed whenever it was clear and there was no danger. In Sacramento you cross only with a light unless it's a small-ish street. In Japan, they're a lot more observant of the lights except when it's a small street, and then it's like they don't exist. 

 

Basically, the larger the street, the less people are going to cross it without a light. The more street traffic, the more likely people are going to cross without a light. 

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2 hours ago, firewallflower said:

...The majority of drivers around here don't seem to pay attention to pedestrian signs, though, even at lit and very obvious crosswalks, so if I were to just push the button and walk while there were still cars approaching, even though officially I'd have the right of way... not a good plan.

Yep. It's the same in my area. Many drivers don't notice or pay attention to pedestrians having right of way to cross; sometimes, a driver will make a right turn on red, right in front of a pedestrian crossing. So, yeah, I always obey pedestrian lights; there's so much traffic and several lanes of vehicles, that I don't really have the ability to cross without the light, anyway.

 

Plus, here, many drivers already have an assumption that cyclists are always breaking road rules, always doing something wrong. They mistakenly think that cyclists aren't allowed on the road or that they're not allowed to cycle in the middle of the lane to avoid dangerous things like potholes, debris, etc. that are in the right side of the lane. So, I also like trying to show drivers that not all cyclists break rules.

 

When I think about it, sometimes, it does feel a little unfair, that, as a cyclist or pedestrian, I'm scrutinized more than drivers who always break rules and cause accidents, whereas, I'm not doing anything wrong/illegal or dangerous.

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Let's start with the "mostly yes" part which is the technical answer. Only if there's no car far and wide and I'm at least in a bit of a hurry will I cross it even when red...

that being said:

1) Technically I jaywalk on effectively every traffic light I cross, as I usually start walking about a second or so before it turns green (the time between car lights turning red and pedestrian ones turning green)

2) I just avoid traffic lights. I tend to cross the street between intersections 95% of the time, which isn't jaywalking but is illegal around here. (though obviously also always making sure no car will be inconvenienced by it; I'm not running into traffic)

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AceMissBehaving

I got hit by a car when I was a kid which left me with some pretty solid anxiety around crossing streets, so unless the road is wide open I always wait for the “walk” light.

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Having been raised in NYC for the vast majority of my life, the pedestrian light is definitely only a suggestion for me :lol:

 

How I do it is take a small step into the street while looking both ways, and if oncoming traffic hesitates (ie slows down) even slightly, I take that as a sign of weakness and I just cross the street :P Only got honked at twice in my life soooo :ph34r:

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I really feel anxious at traffic lights but also crossing the road in general , and will mostly cross as instructed. On a rare occasion I might try to get across it but only if I see it completely clear

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Sometimes I tune out and forget to check the traffic when crossing roads. Thankfully i have gotten better over the years.

 

 Where I live I don't cross roads very often either.

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If there's a crossing nearby I'll use it. My judgement is look, if there's no traffic I won't push the button, but just cross without subsequently causing the traffic to stop. If there's traffic I'll wait for the light in my favour. 

 

@Pan Ficto. (on hiatus?), in Britain we have two types of crossings. Those at junctions as you mention in your first post, but if there's a need, such as a long stretch with no light-controlled junction, we have stand alone Pelican crossings. 

At zebra crossings (no light control, just painted markings and Beleisha Beacons) pedestrians on crossings have right of way. Traffic isn't obliged to stop until the pedestrian has one foot on the crossing, although common sense and courtesy says that if a pedestrian's waiting you stop if it's safe to 

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Mostly yes, especially during the day. If you're standing at a crossing at night and the roads are completely empty, it is a slight waste of time to wait for green light.

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only cross when the light is green. I've had cases of it being night at a road with no cars and I'd still wait for the light to switch green. The only time I ever jaywalked was when I was on holidays and the tour guide crossed the street whilst the light was red 😅

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Most of the time I wait for the green light, even if I see some people jaywalking/running to cross.

Went to Japan, and even in very busy cities I've seen that everyone tends to wait for the green light so that was enlightening.

 

If it's a very small road and there are no cars coming, I'll still cross even if it's a ''red man''  (we have these as well in France)

Exception being my UNI I guess, there's a part of the road that everyone cross even though there are no lights or pedestrian crossing, so I tend to do it as well.

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smellincoffee

Depends on the road and the traffic. There's one road I ALWAYS wait on, because even when the pedestrian light is on, people will run over me.   On the smaller ones I go by traffic and usually jaywalk.

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Usually I obey, but if it's taking a ridiculously long time and there's no traffic and I have to get to work, fuck that traffic light, I'm crossing. 

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Depends on the city. In LA I always obey, back up north I would jaywalk. Don't know why, the streets tend to be wider here. And drivers are more aware of pedestrians up there.

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