Apparently this is some kind of program that has been in the test stage for years, but because nothing registers until it happens to me personally, I am only now waking up to the outrage that is the new "pedestrian countdown signal" on our city's traffic lights, some of which just appeared on 14th Street around Union Square this weekend. You're probably familiar with the signals, which count down the number of seconds remaining before the light changes, from trips to Europe or such backwater American burgs as Philadelphia, but it is gravely disappointing to see them here in my New York. I mean, it was bad enough when we got rid of "Walk/Don't Walk" as a gesture of solidarity for the colorblind illiterate, but this is a step too far. I mean, if you can't figure out when to dash across the street by timing the yellow light, shouldn't you be somewhere a little more sedate? We are making it TOO EASY FOR EVERYONE in this town.
Monday, August 31, 2009
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Does it also tweet at you like electric birds tweet?
Oh wow I should really read the comments before I comment, eesh!
"Just run across the street like the rest of us, okay?"
Heh. Like you run anywhere, ever.
In Arlington, VA, these things even tweet like a birds for the unsighted! Probably that hand should just come to life and ferry you across the street!
I would actually approve if a recorded voice said something like, "C'mon, buddy, move your ass," or "Lady, go or don't go, but get out of the goddamn way." It would save me the trouble.
Really only Matt will understand why this is hilarious: "Move it along, grampa."
YES THEY SHOULD INSTALL THESE IN BODEGAS AND 7-11'S PLEASE.
We've had both in LA for many years. The tweets were in Beverly Hills first and the countdowns have been in LA for at least 10 years.
Five years ago they had these all over China, especially Beijing. They really just encourage people to take excessive risks, knowing there's still a second left.
Oh, they also allow "left turn on red" in China. Hope we get that lunacy soon!
Yet another way to circumvent "survival of the fittest".
In DC, it does serve the purpose of cluing in *drivers* as to how long we have until the light turns yellow, encouraging unsafe mid-block acceleration. As a driver, I love it.
Yes. Balk implies ("...dash across the street by timing the yellow light...") that the countdown is until when the light turns red (and he may be correct wrt NYC), but ours countdown until the light turns yellow, which just tells me to speed up to make the light when I see single digits. Safety first!
Between this, Best Buy, and TGIFridays, Union Square is reeeaaally pulling a 180 from 1971, idinit?
Don't forget the Dunkin Donuts opening soon on Park Ave!
what? no McCafe!? Scandal.
Wasn't Andy Warhol's Factory where the Petco is now?
two floors above.
In Jersey City they still have the old "DONT WALK/WALK" signs.
This is a little artsier and less demonstrative an example than I would have liked but has its own flickry glamor:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoshinsky/2849080285/
Dear Tom McGeveran,
Less Flickr and more Wood War! You promised!
Respectfully yours,
Me
I thought the photo was a trafficky tribute to Michael Jackson.
If they do have them in Philadelphia, it's surely not about preventing intersection accidents as much as extending the amount of time it takes pedestrians to realize there is no where worth going.
no where= meta-y
What about the "Push to Walk" button that's supposed to trigger these signals. I've gotten stranded at a number of strange and complex intersections when I haven't pressed it, but I still feel like a complete jackass standing there on the corner poking this stupid button.
The buttons aren't hooked up to anything. It's kind of like a lab experiment, some sort of variant on Milgram's.
Oh boy. I shudder to think of the horrors my button-pressing has wrought.
Oh, they work. Just not for the crosswalks they're at. Push one in LES and a crosswalk changes in Harlem.
You're probably doing it wrong. First, you push the button. Then wait 10 seconds, push again, but this time really put your arm into it, and hold it for 5 seconds. Allow 10 seconds to pass, then stare at the button with great intensity for a count of 8. Finally commence rapid-fire button-pushing until the light changes (anywhere from 1-14 minutes).
If you happen to come to a corner and see somebody else push the button, you should probably push it two or three more times when he/she is done, just in case he/she didn't do it right.
There will be a certain portion of NYers who will see the countdown, rip open the box on the side of the traffic signal pole, and guess about whether to cut the blue wire or the green wire.
MacGruber!!!
There is a difference between, say, the ones in the Philadelphia area and the ones in D.C. The Philly foot traffic signals only count down in the last ten seconds, and still have the white guy signal. Washington's, however, only has the hand, and counts down for as long as 90 seconds, which is pretty creepy, but useful to time just how quick you can run from one psuedolandmark to another.
I like this. I see a generation of kids playing chicken on major intersections on the countdown....."four, three, GO!!!"
Now you're making me miss the good old days when I'd play chicken on my sled on slushy days with the trucks going downhill near the UN on First Avenue. Kids today have it too easy.
The last time I paid any attention whatsoever to a crossing signal was when my car got stuck at one of the fuckheaded six-ways around Atlantic/Pacific--because if you're at the front of the lane, the traffic lights are actually out of your line of sight.