YAA (yet another accident) at Lynn?

[baiskeli]

@rcannon100 33649 wrote:

I think it will unlikely do any good. Attempting to change the attitudes of individuals in an overwhelmed transportation infrastructure I dont think will be effective; the solution is to change the infrastructure.

I agree. Until then, though, I need to cross the street without getting killed.

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 33683 wrote:

So according to the letter of the law, you should not enter the intersection after the green.

The letter of the law is that if the Don’t Walk is up, you shouldn’t start crossing. If nothing is up, the letter of the law is silent. During the countdown cycle, the red hand blinks on and off. So even assuming red hand is the legal equivalent of “Don’t Walk” in the statute, there are times when the law simply doesn’t apply.

FYI, on the ride home I noticed that at Lee & Lynn, about half of the “walking person” time is while the light is red for cars, and the other half is while the light is green for cars. And there are bike & ped signals at Oak & Scott (not Nash and there’s no light at Quinn – so much for my observation skills).

[jnva]

We shouldn’t have to deal with these crappy intersections. Build bike lanes on 66 and 495!

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jnva 33752 wrote:

We shouldn’t have to deal with these crappy intersections. Build bike lanes on 66 and 495!

On Sunday I was on 66 EB in the Ballston area and noticed a guy riding his bike on the WB shoulder!

[baiskeli]

@dasgeh 33750 wrote:

The letter of the law is that if the Don’t Walk is up, you shouldn’t start crossing. If nothing is up, the letter of the law is silent. During the countdown cycle, the red hand blinks on and off. So even assuming red hand is the legal equivalent of “Don’t Walk” in the statute, there are times when the law simply doesn’t apply.

I believe a blinking hand is the equivalent of a yellow warning, which basically means it’s still like a green. So you could cross then too, by the letter of the law. Though it does seem to be silent on that, in this part of the law at least. Maybe it’s somewhere else.

But if the red hand is blinking the entire time, then that simply means the light is horribly confusing. I don’t think it is intended to signal that it’s okay to enter the intersection right up to the zero on the countdown. That makes the countdown pointless.

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 33760 wrote:

I believe a blinking hand is the equivalent of a yellow warning, which basically means it’s still like a green. So you could cross then too, by the letter of the law. Though it does seem to be silent on that, in this part of the law at least. Maybe it’s somewhere else.

But if the red hand is blinking the entire time, then that simply means the light is horribly confusing. I don’t think it is intended to signal that it’s okay to enter the intersection right up to the zero on the countdown. That makes the countdown pointless.

Every countdown ped light I’m familiar with has a blinking hand with the entire countdown, then switches to the solid red once the countdown hits 0.

It seemed like you were advocating not entering the crosswalk during the blinking hand/countdown. Now it seems that you’re saying during the blinking hand/countdown it’s ok to enter the intersection as long as you’re all the way across by the red/solid hand. That second position is what I (and I think others) were saying all along. And I believe we all agree that we should only enter the intersection (walking person or blinking hand) once we’ve sufficiently made sure cars aren’t going to run us over.

[DaveK]

@baiskeli 33760 wrote:

I believe a blinking hand is the equivalent of a yellow warning, which basically means it’s still like a green. So you could cross then too, by the letter of the law. Though it does seem to be silent on that, in this part of the law at least. Maybe it’s somewhere else.

But if the red hand is blinking the entire time, then that simply means the light is horribly confusing. I don’t think it is intended to signal that it’s okay to enter the intersection right up to the zero on the countdown. That makes the countdown pointless.

G is correct – the law currently states that a pedestrian cannot enter an intersection on a flashing red hand. Many states have updated their code to reflect that, when countdown signals are present, a ped can enter an intersection if they can cross before the end of the flashing don’t walk phase. Virginia, as in many other areas, is not that progressive.

[baiskeli]

@dasgeh 33772 wrote:

Every countdown ped light I’m familiar with has a blinking hand with the entire countdown, then switches to the solid red once the countdown hits 0.

It seemed like you were advocating not entering the crosswalk during the blinking hand/countdown. Now it seems that you’re saying during the blinking hand/countdown it’s ok to enter the intersection as long as you’re all the way across by the red/solid hand. That second position is what I (and I think others) were saying all along. And I believe we all agree that we should only enter the intersection (walking person or blinking hand) once we’ve sufficiently made sure cars aren’t going to run us over.

No, I wouldn’t say that. I’d say this means the signals are confusing.

I don’t think there is any pedestrian signal on earth that intends to signal that one may enter an intersection up to the point where the countdown reaches zero.

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