Was that audible signal telling you to cross?
From: wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of John
Brooking
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2021 8:35 PM
To: wsmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wsmac] Walk signals and green left turn arrows
I'm really beginning to be of the strong opinion that pedestrians should
*never* be given a walk signal at the same time that parallel car traffic has a
green left turn arrow. This is the situation we've discussed many times at
Hannaford Drive. Today I had someone almost not stop for me at William Clark
Drive and Mechanic Street, in the same kind of situation. I had the walk
signal, crossing WCD from the neighborhood side towards Main Street, and in
this case the driver was coming towards me from Mechanic Street, turning left
across the crosswalk. No reason they shouldn't have seen me, it was daylight
(though cloudy and misty), and there was no other traffic between them and me.
Yet I had to stop and hold out my arm and stare them down to make sure they saw
me, and eventually they did. (And I was even using a crutch because of a knee
injury last week!)
I think the problem is simply that the left green arrow makes it too easy for
drivers to assume they have the all clear, and don't have to look out for
anything. It's a lack of awareness and thought. I'm not optimistic that this is
a fixable behavior, short of just not placing the both of them in that
situation in the first place.
