Be the first to know about breaking news, articles, and updates.
The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia
Home of the Best of Halifax Reader's Choice Awards, the award-winning independent newspaper covers the Halifax news, politics, events, concerts, movies, restaurants, and nightlife scene.
What’s with the Halifax crosswalks that don’t activate the crosswalk unless you were waiting there on the red? Are Halifax traffic planners crazy safety? Am I jaywalking if I just go ahead? How about I just watch the cars. No one has ever been run down by a traffic light. —Impatient Foot Commuter
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2012.
12 Comments
As I’ve learned by travelling big cities – hold out your arm until said driver sees it – why more people don’t do is this is beyond this ol’ melon on my shoulders unless they have a fear of being outed as a closet Nazi.
And what is up with the QUALITY of the bitches? Who is this idiot? Just how does a Halifax crosswalk activate itself?
Traffic lights can bite back, carefull on that corner please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qtUuF-ZHIw
Press the button and wait for the next light, you impatient dolt!! Just like vehicles that arrive at an intersection (wanting to turn left on a flashing green arrow) after the activator, you have to wait for the next cycle. How hard is that to comprehend?
I believe the problem comes down to them firing Bobo the chimpanzie, the long time Halifax traffic controler, for lending city funds to associates against the city charter. The real problem caused by that is they then gave the job to a bureaucrat , who sucked one elected official or anothers ass, so they thought it would be great to put this brown noser in charge & instead of the choices “yes or No” ( the only decissions he ever had to make previous to this job & usually that decission was made by others & relayed to him )
He was told he had to pick Red , Yellow & then Green … also the additional duty at certain places (often only part of the time) a flashing arrow & on top of that immense problem , the crosswalk requests …
The poor bastard’s been so out of his depth, he’s had to go get special training (at full pay of course) while the lights just kinda work , as anyone can observe half assed , as long as there’s power …but its been 4 or so years & he should be getting out of the training program soon . Last I heard , he now knows that he can’t do red, green , then yellow … while different & possibly asthetically pleasing … too many people driving & walkin’ the streets would have to be retrained & there just isn’t enough classroom space or teachers available. That’s part of the reason its taken so long …the other massive problem was half the school faculty wasn’t sure he was wrong & it took 16 months for them to figure it out !
So OB, with 2 dead in crosswalk accidents this year & a handful of people struck while in crosswalks, I guess you just gotta decide if its worth it.
As far as I am concerned , I think they should have just hired another chimp !
if you don’t wait for the little man of white, then it’s not alright. that’s a little poem i taught my grand daughter. “when the man turns white, then you walk, alright”.
“Don’t Do What Donny Don’t Does.”
They could have made this simpler.
Where is fucking Elmer the Safety Elephant when you need him?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IaLo5PI9rjc/TDt-…
You’re missing some words in your bitch OP. It’s hard to understand. You need to proofread.
Are you asking for the crosswalk lights (I assume that’s what you’re talking about) to come on immediately when you press them? That’s what it sounds like. Obviously, traffic crossing your path has to stop for you to cross safely which means a red light for them. So once their red light comes on, the flashing lights should come on.
I don’t know if Halifax city planners are “crazy safety” or not because I don’t understand that term.
wow. Sidewalk rage much?
So there’s this button. You’re too dumb to press it. How else does it know you’re there? Unless it’s watching you with a tiny camera. In which case i’m sure you’d be here with a very different kind of bitch.
I agree with OP if I understand correctly. The lights you have to activate by pressing the button BEFORE the light turns green cause more problems than they prevent. If the light is green then the walk light should also be activated regardless(unless an arrow). I don’t know how many times I’ve played the ‘back and forth hand wave’ game with a driver because they see me standing at the corner of a green light, even though the pedestrian light says ‘don’t walk’. I understand each light serves different users, but 95% of the time they are the same at a ‘normal’ intersection, therefore making these activated walk lights an exception, which causes the problem. People are use to seeing the walk light come up as the light turns green… but like always we have to complicate the most basic things. I find these frustrating as a driver and pedestrian. Keep it simple and consistent!