"...most intersection are unsafe to have an automatic green man, as pedestrians j-walk and it creates a dangerous situation with possible filtered right turners. A scenario where people see a green man and run to cross the road creates one of the most dangerous situations, with regards to left and right turners.
Studies conducted by VicRoads and the Australian Road Research Board have proven the safety issues with the above."
I contacted VicRoads to ask about making a pointless pedestrian crossing green automatically when it's safe to cross and their response was very telling.
The presence of the “green man” walk symbol surely is accompanied by the big red light telling motorised traffic to stop for 30 or so seconds to allow the pedestrians to reach across alive?
We have the same, but pedestrians have the right of way, cars yield. In crossings with heavy pedestrian traffic, it’s common for just one or two cars to complete their left or right turn per green cycle.
@airwhale Right, so you have the same dangerous pedestrian crossings?
If a pedestrian starts crossing when a driver has started turning them the pedestrian is likely to get hit.
@airwhale 30yrs of crossing roads in Melbourne and I don't trust drivers to yield. Most of the time it's fine, but at least once a week I'll have a driver approaching the turn across the pedestrian crossing at a speed where they're unable to yield and so I have to.
I would have definitely died a few times if I wasn't paying attention when crossing. I'd hate to be trying to cross while blind.
@augustusbrown It's the middle pedestrian/cyclist crossing across the tram tracks in the median when Punt Rd turns in Fitzroy St in St Kilda.
No interaction with turning traffic at all.
It's kind of pointless because it's just tram tracks, but it's also silly because it's always red even when the trams have a red and the cars have a green.
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