Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[dtkvictim]

2) I'm pretty sure the Gaukel crossing over Charles St has been replaced with a beg button, and gives an otherwise permanent green to traffic on Charles St. I just watched it for 2.5 minutes and the light never cycled, while about 20 people (none of whom pressed the button) decided to wait for a few seconds each and then just cross since there was no traffic. Maybe someone who lives in Charlie West or uses this crossing often can confirm.

Do people really not understand that they won’t get a green if they don’t press the button? I regularly observe this on King at the Waterloo Spur. Now, to be clear, I don’t object to people crossing against a red hand when there is no conflicting traffic and I sometimes do it myself, but I don’t understand how people don’t understand that the button is required in order to get a walking person.

Of course, regular readers here will know that I think many of these should be reversed to be permanently green for pedestrians, until vehicle traffic activates the light using sensors in the road.

Another observation on this crossing: I noticed the button for the crossing closest to the ION stop is 1) set decently far back, and 2) hidden behind the pole if you are approaching from the ION stop. Actually I think the crossing button for the opposite direction (crossing Gaukel, which I'm not sure why that even needs to be a crosswalk anymore) still has the old "Audible Signal Only" label. I just watched about 20 people get off the ION and wait to cross without pressing the button, so I pressed it for them

I also saw a cyclist almost get hit crossing over Charles St. Presumably because from his perspective there is no indication he's approaching a controlled intersection (no red light, no stop sign, pretty far offset pedestrian signals) and barely had time to stop.

While I'm whining about this intersection, I wish the bollards on the north section of Gaukel St included the crosswalk (which again, shouldn't need to exist anymore) since it's apparently an irresistible place for delivery drivers to stop.

Honestly I think the changes the signal engineers made here were worse than doing nothing (unless making sure vehicle traffic has green lights by default counts). Meanwhile a block away at Ontario St, southbound bicycles still have no signals... Over a year after opening. They hung the lights a few months after my last email, maybe they'll take the bags off and turn them on a few months after my next one.