The article earlier this month about the timing of traffic signal cycles and their effect on pedestrians prompted a flurry of letters from Brooklyn readers who had their own encounter with this ubiquitous device. Here we provide edited excerpts from two, one who cites a method for giving the pedestrian greater priority, and one who says we should not forget the interest of drivers.
Brooklyn Isn't Manhattan: Drivers Need More Time And Attention
by John Hummer
I am a resident of Brooklyn and I walk and take subways everywhere, but I also drive a car, albeit only out of necessity. A lot of my driving in Brooklyn is a cross-borough trip from where I live in the northwest corner of Brooklyn (Greenpoint) to Canarsie in the southern portion of the borough where I often visit friends. This area is not served at all by subways. Bus transit, after many transfers, would take close to a couple of hours. To get there, I drive my car and run a gauntlet of narrow streets, many heavily congested, most without any sequential lights. I face the ubiquitous and pervasive practice of people double-parking, especially near central business districts along Fulton Street, Nostrand Avenue and others. Violations for double parking are almost never controlled and enforced by the police. This of course further slows traffic and adds risk and danger to drivers and to pedestrians. With all the hassle driving, it is little wonder that drivers in Brooklyn are extremely aggressive. But that aggressiveness is its own danger. People run red lights, use right-side parking lanes as jump off points to get around other traffic stopped at lights (which is dangerous to pedestrians), operate at unsafe speeds to make lights, etc.
Brooklyn is very different than Manhattan. Although it has the highest population of all the boroughs, Brooklyn is much larger geographically than Manhattan and it is roughly round in shape (as opposed to Manhattan's long nearly rectangular shape). Manhattan is much less vehicle dependent than the other boroughs.
What is needed for cross-Brooklyn traffic is a system of routes with sequential lights that operate long enough to drain off traffic. This means that some lights will need to have longer signal intervals to do so. I am a little amused by your claim of [overly] long lights on Washington Avenue, which I traverse fairly frequently. You may be irritated standing on a corner (if you actually obey the pedestrian crossing lights, which would make you pretty unique in NYC), but the long lights are important in moving and draining traffic in a very tough traffic situation in Brooklyn. More attention needs to be paid towards moving vehicular traffic, rather than stalling it, which leads to further chaos on the streets.
A Few Extra Moments Can Mean A Lot For Those On Foot
by Dominic Preziosi
A recent pleasant surprise in my neighborhood of Cobble Hill West has been the arrival of the delayed green at intersections on Hicks Street. Pedestrians crossing northbound and southbound lanes of Hicks -- a high-speed "bypass" to the Gowanus/BQE -- are given an electronic walk signal of about six or seven seconds before cars get their green light. It may not sound like much, but to be allowed into the crosswalk before autos can make their left- and right-hand turns suggests to me that someone is paying attention to the needs (and safety) of walkers, at least where I live.
Brooklyn Isn't Manhattan: Drivers Need More Time And Attention
by John Hummer
I am a resident of Brooklyn and I walk and take subways everywhere, but I also drive a car, albeit only out of necessity. A lot of my driving in Brooklyn is a cross-borough trip from where I live in the northwest corner of Brooklyn (Greenpoint) to Canarsie in the southern portion of the borough where I often visit friends. This area is not served at all by subways. Bus transit, after many transfers, would take close to a couple of hours. To get there, I drive my car and run a gauntlet of narrow streets, many heavily congested, most without any sequential lights. I face the ubiquitous and pervasive practice of people double-parking, especially near central business districts along Fulton Street, Nostrand Avenue and others. Violations for double parking are almost never controlled and enforced by the police. This of course further slows traffic and adds risk and danger to drivers and to pedestrians. With all the hassle driving, it is little wonder that drivers in Brooklyn are extremely aggressive. But that aggressiveness is its own danger. People run red lights, use right-side parking lanes as jump off points to get around other traffic stopped at lights (which is dangerous to pedestrians), operate at unsafe speeds to make lights, etc.
Brooklyn is very different than Manhattan. Although it has the highest population of all the boroughs, Brooklyn is much larger geographically than Manhattan and it is roughly round in shape (as opposed to Manhattan's long nearly rectangular shape). Manhattan is much less vehicle dependent than the other boroughs.
What is needed for cross-Brooklyn traffic is a system of routes with sequential lights that operate long enough to drain off traffic. This means that some lights will need to have longer signal intervals to do so. I am a little amused by your claim of [overly] long lights on Washington Avenue, which I traverse fairly frequently. You may be irritated standing on a corner (if you actually obey the pedestrian crossing lights, which would make you pretty unique in NYC), but the long lights are important in moving and draining traffic in a very tough traffic situation in Brooklyn. More attention needs to be paid towards moving vehicular traffic, rather than stalling it, which leads to further chaos on the streets.
A Few Extra Moments Can Mean A Lot For Those On Foot
by Dominic Preziosi
A recent pleasant surprise in my neighborhood of Cobble Hill West has been the arrival of the delayed green at intersections on Hicks Street. Pedestrians crossing northbound and southbound lanes of Hicks -- a high-speed "bypass" to the Gowanus/BQE -- are given an electronic walk signal of about six or seven seconds before cars get their green light. It may not sound like much, but to be allowed into the crosswalk before autos can make their left- and right-hand turns suggests to me that someone is paying attention to the needs (and safety) of walkers, at least where I live.
@RegionalPlan