Yesterday morning, while walking in Bayers Lake, I had to cross the street at an intersection with one of those pedestrian activated walk signals. You know, if you don’t press the button, the walk signal never comes up even when the light turns green, and it’s actually illegal to cross the street. Unfortunately, the pole with the button on it was inside a 3 foot high, six foot diameter cone of hard snow. Try as I might, I could not reach it. WTF was I supposed to do? Stand there on the curb until the snow melted? Of course, a couple of drivers expressed their displeasure that I was crossing “illegaly”, thus delaying their left turns for a few seconds.
Clearly, when the geniuses down at city hall were coming up with the idea for these assinine signals, no one considered the possibility that it might snow.
—Kermit
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2009.
That happens all the time with that area of the city.
The morning after the storm not a single area for pedestrians had been cleared – so getting off the bus to go to work was a farce.
Crossing the street is also a farce. Fuck, I hate that place.
It’s completely unfriendly to walkers. No sidewalks, you try to get across the highway and feel incredibly unsafe, and there are places that if you do cross, you’ll probably get hit by a car because they wouldn’t be able to see you, but if you don’t cross, you’re just stuck in the middle of nowhere.
test
Totally. I think every decision city council makes should factor in three extra feet of snow. Higher curbs, wider streets and button-pushing rods for every crosswalk.
You are the reason they created child-proof lids. get a grip.
My problem is not so much with the BLIP itself. That’s been anti-pedestrian from it’s inception, and you know what your getting into when you go there. It’s these new pedestrian activated crossing signals I hate with a fiery hatred. The city implimented these unholy things siting “pedestrian safety”. And we all know that really means keeping pedestrians as much as possible out of the way of vehicle traffic. It makes me angry to see the municipal government I pay for come up with more and more ways to make it harder to get around on foot.
AMac, I would just like to ask you, WTF? Get a grip? What the hell are you talking about?
I have a bug up my ass about those push-button pedestrian lights. They effectively take the right-of-way away from pedestrians and give it to cars.
Moreover, they’re often some distance from the sidewalk and, as you point out, are sometimes unreachable anyway, as they’re buried by snow banks.
I’ll get to the bottom of it.
So what is your solution to the OP’s dilema, AMac/NS? When confronted with an inaccessible signal activation button (for lack of a better term), should one cross illegally, raising the ire of drivers and risking a $200 fine? Or as Kermit suggests, stand on the curb and wait for the snow to melt?
I understand that the conception of the BLIP was not intended for much pedestrian traffic – but given that two bus routes now run through it, the city should have had thought more about those who can’t afford a car/don’t want a car, and/or those who are being environmentally friendly.
But then again, asking city council to take pedestrians into consideration, is just like talking to a brick wall.
Exactly, TBAC. I own a car, but I have made a commitment not to use it unneccessarily. The powers that be in this city seem to view pedestrians as a social problem similar to panhandlers. Only the city is far less agressive in it’s attempts to deter panhandling.
I think we’re lucky that the BLIP has sidewalks to being with. Those G-D buttons don’t even work half the time and the municipality has taken to putting them at every sidewalk. I see why they use them, because it allows for better traffic flow as the timers don’t need to take into account pedestrians. However, even if you press the buttons, you rarely have enough time to cross the street. Not to mention, you probably have to dodge over-zealous drivers.
They allow for better vehicle traffic flow, Dr. Fever. At the expense of pedestrian traffic flow. We hear a lot of noise from city hall about environmental responsibility and sustainability, but our leaders consistently place a higher priority on vehicle traffic than on pedestrians. As long as they continue to implement this kind of pro-car, anti-pedestrian measure, they are talking through their hats. Isn’t it time for someone to call them on it?
Go nuts: I’ve tried and it’s fallen on deaf ears.
Its complaints from the so called ‘green people’ that makes me go out into my yard & burn tires. I think I’ll just take my pickup into Halifax for an afternoon brunch & I’ll get the girlfriend to take her car as well. After all its time to turn up the heat on this global warming farce…cause I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve been freezing my ass clearing the windows of my vehicles off every day lately !
GLOBAL WARMING >>>HURRY UP IT’S DAMN COLD OUT ! ! !