New countdown walk signals in the Dayton area are eliminating the guess work for pedestrians and relieving crosswalk anxiety. The digital screens start a countdown when the flashing “Don’t Walk” symbol appears so pedestrians know exactly how many seconds they have before the intersection light changes from green to yellow.
The new signals “are a lot more user-friendly,” said Irina Titova-Spang, traffic engineer for the city of Kettering. “A lot of people don’t understand the meaning of the Walk and flashing Don’t Walk signals.”
A Walk signal gives you enough time to get off the curb while the flashing Don’t Walk should provide enough time to cross the street. However, many pedestrians mistakenly believe they can cross the street only when the sign says Walk, she said.
By having the digital countdown accompany the flashing Don’t Walk, pedestrians can see exactly how much time they have to reach the other corner safely. Currently, signals are timed for a walking speed of 4 feet per second. New traffic regulations about to be adopted by the federal government will lower the speed to 3.5 feet per second.
Kettering has so far installed the new signals in all school zones for student crossings. The next target will be busy and more dangerous intersections, Titova-Spang said.
Montgomery County, Miami Twp., Sidney and Englewood also have installed countdown signals, said Julia Wilkie, president of Bright Street LLC, a local company that maintains and installs traffic signals. She said the new signals are about the same price as existing ones.
Shoup said other localities will soon be joining the switch since new federal traffic regulations now in draft form will require them. The new regulations are expected to be adopted later this year, giving localities a 10-year period to come into compliance.
The countdown signals were introduced several years ago and have been adopted widely in bigger cities like San Francisco and Indianapolis.
Shoup said traffic engineers have been debating the relative safety of the new signals. Some fear motorists will use the countdowns to try to speed through signals before they change, or that younger pedestrians will try to race across an intersection with just a few seconds left.
But having the countdown information will likely lead to safer, less hurried crossings for most pedestrians, Wilkie said. “If you come up to a corner and you only have three seconds to cross, you’re more likely to wait for the next walk indication.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the Author