41–50 of 142 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jaywalking is illegal pretty much everywhere in the US, but enforcement is very selective and regional.
Jaywalking is a $1 ticket in Massachusetts. I believe it's there simply to assign fault in a crash.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always thought jaywalking was crossing outside of a marked crosswalk? I didn't know it had anything to do with the colour of the traffic light, that said, I also live in New York and we got our own rules anyhow.
As far as I'm aware, jaywalking is crossing outside a crosswalk (in my area I believe all intersections are considered to have crosswalks), OR against a light. If the hand says no go and you go, you're jaywalking.
I work in New York, but I go to Seattle periodically because that's where my company's headquarters is. How people treat the buttons is wildly different between those two cities. I hardly ever see anyone press the cross button in NY, since the convention is to wait for there to be no cars and then cross (and not bother with the button). In Seattle, I've seen people wait patiently at a cross walk even though there's n…
I believe jaywalking is illegal, and enforced in Seattle. When I'm in the UK I will normally not press the pedestrian button (unless its the type of pedestrian only crossing which only activate with the button, not on traffic lights on a junction) . But when I'm in the US, or a different country with jaywalking laws, I will stick to the rules much more rigidly. I also really enjoy the first time crossing a road when…
I remember wondering how anyone ever got anywhere.
This makes me so annoyed. I much prefer ones without buttons because I don't have to mess with it; when there is a button, I assume I have to go over and press it, but it sounds like in some cases I don't (for a while now I've suspected them to be pointless). But there's no way to tell the difference so I still have to everywhere.
This reminds me of an elevator's "Door Close" button. Manufacturers still include them for the peace of mind of passengers, despite computerized systems and many area laws (in the US, the ADA has language regarding door-open timespan for wheelchair access). EDIT: Thanks to a_c_s for pointing out that the button can work when the elevator is in emergency/service mode. More fun information on elevators, crosswalk and o…
I notice a lot in London that there are a bunch of pedestrian lights in areas witha steady flow of traffic that will only work if the button has been pressed, yet every single day I see people, often the same people, stand there until someone else presses the button. Part of me wonders if there's almost an aspect of not wanting to cause offense involved. If you're the person who presses the button, you're responsible…
I’ve seen this behavior in parts of Europe where offending other people in traffic is much less frowned-upon than in England. I think it’s just the case of everyone assuming that someone else has pressed the button.
Seems there is an important opportunity here to apply machine learning to video feeds of incoming traffic and people flow, and shape the phases to minimize wait time for all citizens, equally. The current systems require expensive induction loops and only care about cars and button pushers, this being how we got here. If people learn the system acknowledges their needs and tries it best to let them cross safely, it m…
It would be better to just build smaller intersections that do not need millions of dollars worth of signals and cameras and ML inference rigs.
In Germany, there is a twist: When you press such a placebo button, a white light that reads "warte" (wait) starts flashing.
There is no rhyme or reason for how traffic light buttons work in Germany. It all seems random.
I'm gradually training myself not to jam my finger painfully against them to be "sure" I pressed.
If it turns out they're also placebos, I think I'm just going to give one a good kick next time I go by...
This reminds me of an elevator's "Door Close" button. Manufacturers still include them for the peace of mind of passengers, despite computerized systems and many area laws (in the US, the ADA has language regarding door-open timespan for wheelchair access). EDIT: Thanks to a_c_s for pointing out that the button can work when the elevator is in emergency/service mode. More fun information on elevators, crosswalk and o…
The door close button is used when the elevator is in fire service mode (where all actions are manually activated)