Nope, not quite. That misunderstanding causes considerable grief.
http://www.portlandpersonalinjuryaccidentlawyer.com/blog/pedestrian-accident/right-of-way-law/
Guess I deserved the yelling, then. Courtesy should prevail, though, IMO. Especially when you’re a long way from a crosswalk.
Called a “Barnes Dance”, or a “Pedestrian scramble”:
Henry Barnes, who promoted it, was a Denver traffic engineer.
ETA:
It also meant they had to add another audible “chirp” signal for the vision impaired. What they used in Denver was a constant ringing bell, much like a telephone bell, while the scramble was on.
I recall several major intersections in Tokyo having a pedestrian phase in the traffic cycle where all vehicles in every direction are stopped. Pedestrians cross any way they need to, including diagonal. Then when vehicles are using the intersection are pedestrian traffic is stopped.
That’s true, in a perfect world. I’m from PDX, too, and many of the people I see crossing outside a marked crossing tend to step out from between cars, within a couple feet of traffic, and are not looking left or right. Then, when I screech to a halt, I get the stink eye/flipped off/yelled at.
Unfortunately, pedestrians carry the same attitude while in a private parking lot, where the rules of the road offer no protection. I see too many peds leave a store and walk directly into the parking lot to their vehicle without stopping or looking. Cascade Station is a classic example.
It’s the scariest part of driving here, and it took me a long time to get used to it. There are those you described; then there are those with an apparent death wish who walk out into crosswalks (usually texting) without bothering to see if people have seen them and are actually stopping; those who fling their car doors open into your lane of traffic, causing you to either hit the brakes or swerve to miss them; the Cool Doodz who stroll into the intersection when the light is red for them, daring you to hit them (obligatory finger wave/look of scorn when you hit the horn).
The drivers that really irk me are the masses of people who feel that if something is in the way in their lane (bus, parking car, person opening a car door), it’s perfectly acceptable to swerve into oncoming traffic, because hey, I’m in a hurry, and I expect you to avoid the collision. It’s nerve-wracking, and I’m amazed that bus drivers don’t have a high rate of PTSD or nervous breakdowns.
I was just in Oakland a couple of weekends ago and encountered diagonal crossing in the downtown/Chinatown border. It is a good idea, and would work really well if pedestrians actually gave a damn about the cycles. But that’s generally true at most intersections.
My favourite pedestrian manoeuvre here in snowy Calgary is pedestrians who think that their right-of-way negates the laws of physics - you can’t just step out in front of a car that is driving on an icy road and expect them to stop like they’re on dry pavement.
Three separate kinds of cycles operate in NZ.
- Pedestrian light goes on at the same time as the traffic light. This only happens when the pedestrian button is pushed. It is accompanied by a sign that says “Turning traffic give way to peds”. This situation is fairly rare and usually occurs in locations with large traffic volumes and few pedestrians such as major inner city arterial routes and industrial areas.
- As above but pedestrian light comes on several seconds before the traffic light goes on. Peds are therefore given priority. They are more than half-way across the road before the traffic moves.
- In pedestrian dense areas such as the inner city, pedestrians are given their own phase in the cycle. On some intersections diagonal crossing is allowed.
Seems to work well.
I walk through several pedestrian scrambles (I love that – I always just called it the diagonal crossing) every day on my way to work in downtown San Francisco. It works very well for those of use who are familiar with the system, but it is very confusing to tourists, who often look to the traffic lights to know when to walk, rather than to the walk/don’t walk signals. You see them stepping off the curb when the light is green, and then realizing that it’s for cars only (often because there is a major right turn lane) or alternatively not walking when the light is red, even though the walk signal is on. The scariest thing for me is that I don’t always pay attention to which intersections are scrambles. Sometimes when I see the walk signal, I think I can cross diagonally, but that isn’t always the case.
I think in general it’s a very good system that is much safer for pedestrians, as long as the pedestrians pay attention to the signals and use it properly.
I did some observing this weekend, and I see what you mean. There was an intersection in which there were left turn arrows and the pedestrian walk signal was delayed to allow the left-turning cars to be able to get through quickly. But almost every time, pedestrians ignored the delayed signal and started walking as soon as cross-traffic got a red.
It’s annoying that good solutions don’t work because of scofflaws!