Why do I have to wait 15sec at pedestrian lights?

buzz11

Why does the city council impose a 15 second waiting time on certain pedestrian crossing in the city?
--they claim they want to keep cars out of the city centre and prioritise other forms of transport yet they give cars priority at these traffic lights?
--do they not realise that pedestrians won't stand there like dummies in the rain but will chance crossing when a gap appears, making the junction more dangerous and the lights now redundant?
--do they not realise that if pedestrians can get easy access at junctions they will walk more? (when its not raining)

KylieWyley

another traffic light thread :pac:

buzz11

buzz11 wrote: »

--do they not realise that if pedestrians can get easy access at junctions they will walk more? (when its not raining)

I'm sorry but this piece in particular is complete garbage.
The merits of which I'm not even going to get into.

P.S in all my time walking I've barely used lights(bar a road where cars are going 60+ like Headford road)... in the city centre I always just find a reaonable gap and the next car will slow enough.

sgthighway

Tell me if it works:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-traffic-lights-change

KylieWyley

buzz11 wrote: »

--do they not realise that pedestrians won't stand there like dummies in the rain but will chance crossing when a gap appears, making the junction more dangerous and the lights now redundant?

Some people really need to get out more.

Go to an actual city with many lanes of traffic flowing through it and where it literally is only possible to cross at a set of pedestrian lights. Dublin, Paris, Budapest (which has mental roads!) etc.

Galway's a small town. I always find it funny when I cross an empty road and leave behind some very pedantic people that refuse to cross until the traffic lights turn red.

KylieWyley

KylieWyley wrote: »

Galway's a small town. I always find it funny when I cross an empty road and leave behind some very pedantic people that refuse to cross until the traffic lights turn red.

Exactly, I've never used the lights in town.

Dublin on the other hand, you'd get knocked down if you tried it.

Ya I've noticed that a lot too... I remember about two weeks ago, I was coming through Eyre Sq heading to Renmore in the evening, and the second set of lights at Garverys were red while the ones in front of me were green and there were people waiting, naturally I held back to give them the room to walk across as nothing was coming the other side, but they just stood there waiting

Sponge Bob

The law is you should cross at a green light and nowhere else.

mickoneill30

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The law is you should cross at a green light and nowhere else.

Have you got a link for that law I can't see it in the rules of the road.

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-pedestrians-cyclists-motorcyclists/pedestrians/pedestrians_crossing-the-road.html

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-pedestrians-cyclists-motorcyclists/pedestrians/pedestrians_safe-crossing-places.html

Tombones

someone please give the OP 15 seconds of his/her(probably a her) life back.

Das Kitty

There's a set of pedestrian lights on the prom that only give the green man if someone presses the button on both sides of the road (at Leisureland side entrance). Whoever thought that was a good idea needs a smack.

I wouldn't mind but it's a fairly blind place to cross when there are cars parked next to it as there always are. Practically impossible with a buggy, on occasion I've had to shout across to people on the other side to hit the button as they were passing, with me hoping they spoke English!

Mr Man

buzz11 wrote: »

Why does the city council impose a 15 second waiting time on certain pedestrian crossing in the city?
--they claim they want to keep cars out of the city centre and prioritise other forms of transport yet they give cars priority at these traffic lights?
--do they not realise that pedestrians won't stand there like dummies in the rain but will chance crossing when a gap appears, making the junction more dangerous and the lights now redundant?
--do they not realise that if pedestrians can get easy access at junctions they will walk more? (when its not raining)

Buy a car.

snubbleste

Das Kitty wrote: »

There's a set of pedestrian lights on the prom that only give the green man if someone presses the button on both sides of the road (at Leisureland side entrance). Whoever thought that was a good idea needs a smack.

I wouldn't mind but it's a fairly blind place to cross when there are cars parked next to it as there always are. Practically impossible with a buggy, on occasion I've had to shout across to people on the other side to hit the button as they were passing, with me hoping they spoke English!

Email galwaycity and make them aware of the problem.

I agree Galway is a motorist-centric environment. Has anyone ever seen an OAP trying to cross at a roundabout?

Das Kitty

snubbleste wrote: »

Email xx and make them aware of the problem.

Just did that now.

Wompa1

I can't find a link or any info on it but I was nearly sure J-walking was made illegal here back in the early 2000's..maybe I dreamt it!?

MarkR

I presume the 15 seconds is in order for a car to stop. If that's the case, what's the problem?

Poll Dubh

MarkR wrote: »

I presume the 15 seconds is in order for a car to stop. If that's the case, what's the problem?

Lights remain green for drivers for 15 seconds before they turn amber to indicate for them to stop.

I've often stood in the rain at traffic lights wondering why the lights don't turn amber for drivers immediately. I don't see any benefit for traffic flow. If traffic planners are worried about pedestrians constantly bringing the traffic to a stop then a timed delay on the reactivation of the crossing should be put in place after pedestrians have crossed, rather than before.

Hotwheels

Why do I have to wait 15sec at pedestrian lights?

Because the Corpo are getting 1c for every Second they keep you under the Google Satellite

Iwannahurl

Fifteen seconds is a negligible wait, and is just not worth complaining about given the advantages that proper controlled crossings confer to pedestrians.

As some posts suggest, waiting for the green man before crossing is not part of the Galway culture (or possibly Irish culture). It's much more common here than in other European countries, and I imagine that you might get done for jay-walking in the US.

Some traffic signals in Galway are genuine pedestrian-priority crossings. Many others are just placebo, IMO, with the pedestrian phase just an add-on between much longer traffic-oriented cycles. The traffic signals at the junction of Threadneedle Road, Taylor's Hill and Bishop O'Donnell Road are an example of that, despite the presence of several schools in the area.

You think 15 seconds is bad? I can't find the source just now, but I recall reading something a year or so ago which stated that it was to be policy that pedestrians would not have to wait more than 90 seconds for the green man. That's not prioritising pedestrians IMO, and I find it hard to accept that pedestrians would be routinely made to wait two minutes or longer.

Iwannahurl

Here it is. Apparently "Smarter Travel" means suggesting that maybe pedestrians should not have to wait more than a minute-and-a-half for the green man. Go figure, as they say in the States.

Traffic management and signaling systems must also be considered. In many areas, the signaling system is designed overwhelmingly in favour of the motorist, to the detriment of pedestrians. Authorities should consider reducing the cycle time of signals and ensuring delays to pedestrians are minimised within the overall signal design (the TMGs state that to cater for cyclist as signalised junctions, signal times should be less than 90 seconds), particularly in areas where high pedestrian footfall is expected. ~Smarter Travel Stage 2 Criteria.

apoeiguq3094y

Those 15 second delays for every use are stupid, I can understand a gap between turns but its a waste of time. If a gap comes in the traffic, the pedestrian is likely to cross before the 15 seconds is up. So you have the green man coming on long after teh pedestrian has crossed.

Poll Dubh

15 seconds in the wind and rain of Galway is a really long time.

heyjude

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Have you got a link for that law I can't see it in the rules of the road.

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-pedestrians-cyclists-motorcyclists/pedestrians/pedestrians_crossing-the-road.html

http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-pedestrians-cyclists-motorcyclists/pedestrians/pedestrians_safe-crossing-places.html

Looking at these rules for pedestrians, they must have been written by someone that never walks, or else how would you end up with this "Don't cross at a corner or bend in the road." Yea, like everytime you're walking and you come to a junction you're going to walk a safe distance down the other road, then crossover and then return to your original route:rolleyes:

yeehaw

Well bless my stars, who on earth has 15 seconds to spare?

Viper_JB

heyjude wrote: »

Looking at these rules for pedestrians, they must have been written by someone that never walks, or else how would you end up with this "Don't cross at a corner or bend in the road." Yea, like everytime you're walking and you come to a junction you're going to walk a safe distance down the other road, then crossover and then return to your original route:rolleyes:

lol look at this one as a rule for crossing the road

RSA wrote:

Don’t hold onto or climb onto moving vehicles

It must be a big problem in Ireland

Madame Razz

Irish society's sense of entitlement has now progressed to objecting to a 15 second wait???

No wonder the country is fcuked:rolleyes:

Iwannahurl

yeehaw wrote: »

Well bless my stars, who on earth has 15 seconds to spare?

Apparently not the motorist who blew her horn at me when I inadvertently took about three seconds too long to move when the light went green.

That was in Portmarnock though, and maybe their time is more valuable than Galway time. :rolleyes:

Robbo

Madame Razz wrote: »

Irish society's sense of entitlement has now progressed to objecting to a 15 second wait???

No wonder the country is fcuked:rolleyes:

During this time, a walker could have covered anything in the region of 25 meters. Obviously what is needed is telepathic pedestrian crossings.

Iwannahurl

Robbo wrote: »

During this time, a walker could have covered anything in the region of 25 meters. Obviously what is needed is telepathic pedestrian crossings.

I think you've got the answer. Forget telepathy though. What we need is pedestrian-controlled crossings with built-in PET scanners to quickly determine the walker's intentions.

The scanners would have to be tuned to filter out motorists' emotions, since they would be fuming at 3-second delays as they sit in their CO2-emitting motorised armchairs.

IMO nothing is too good for walkers and cyclists, ie for me.

Shinto

Don't come to South Korea where i have to wait at least 120 seconds (yes, 2 minutes, sometimes even more!).

I long for the 15 second Irish traffic lights. You have no idea how spoiled you really are.

yeehaw

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Apparently not the motorist who blew her horn at me when I inadvertently took about three seconds too long to move when the light went green.

That was in Portmarnock though, and maybe their time is more valuable than Galway time. :rolleyes:

Only the braindead fail to move their cars when the light turns green.

JohnCleary

You don't *have* to wait 15 seconds, there's nothing stopping you walking out in-front of the traffic and getting splatted all over the road