Why are cars kept so much further back from pedestrian-only crosswalks, than from pedestrian crosswalks that accompany roads? Does there have to be a certain distance between the front of the car and the signal?
there aren’t many Dopers who are traffic engineers :eek:
WAG
Cars are expecting to stop at intersections, but they aren’t expecting to stop at the pedestrian-only crossings, so a little bit more of a buffer is put in,
Drivers need some space between their cars and the signal to be able to see the signal. At intersections, that space is provided by the intersection. At pedestrian crosswalks, the space has to be provided by the buffer.
They wouldn’t need to do this if they provided a second signal at the eye-level of the drivers. They do that for freeway on-ramp signals, but not for crosswalks.