3 Responses for "The Countdowns Begin"

1. WGx » Safety Upgrades for Street Corners May 9th, 2006 at 1:37 pm 1

   [...] Hot on the heels of the new pedestrian countdown lights, WG gets some more street upgrades this Spring … Street corners without handicamp accessible ramps along the southern end of Lincoln Avenue are already marked for demolition and reconstruction. A few with existing narrow ramps are marked for upgrade as well. And big chunks of the western sidewalk between Curtner and Mayette are also tagged for repair. [...]

2. WGx ... January 30th, 2007 at 4:13 pm 2

   Today’s SJ Mercury News includes an informative article about these countdown crosswalks, and the benefits of using LEDs in the new stoplights and pedestrian walk signs.

   They save money from lower energy usage, and everyone seems to be happy with them, as measured by a nearly complete lack of complaints received by government agencies across the region.

   So far, so good ….. but how long before the pedestrian countdowns become the “new yellow light” for drivers, who now know to speed-up midblock to beat the impending yellow-turning-red light. ;-?

3. SJMN's Mr. Roadshow ... June 11th, 2007 at 4:01 pm 3

   Although the article was not specifically about WG, Mr. Roadshow Gary Richards commented on the proliferation of the countdown pedestrian timers now common on our city streets:

   San Francisco was among the first cities to use countdown timers for pedestrians, and they reduced accidents by 25percent from 2001-04. At the same time, pedestrian-auto crashes at intersections without countdown signals jumped 16percent. Auto crashes fell 34 percent on those streets with the timers, compared with a 15percent drop at intersection without them.

   No word on stats in WG, but Richards does suggest that these statistics argue against the “yellow light effect” that WGx and others have worried about.