I missed this when it was first aired. Apparently the culprit is snow that blew in. But this signal lays out more plainly the big-middle-finger reality faced by many pedestrians.
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How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.
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March 25th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Looked at bike snob’s post that you linked to. He doesn’t understand what the flashing red means on the pedestrian signal. Most people don’t which is why it’s been taken out of the MUTCD and replaced by the countdown timer.
March 27th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Love the automatic assumption that it was, if not a mechanical problem, a “hacker”. Because of course every individual LED bulb on your standard pedestrian signal face can be independently and remotely controlled.
March 27th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Robert-
The flashing hand has not been taken out of the MUTCD. However, the countdown signal has been *added* to the display.
March 28th, 2011 at 8:09 am
That’s the exact message (delivered by “quick count” walk signs and inconsiderate drivers) I get at crosswalks all the time in the same city as the newscasters. FoxNewscaster: “That’s a hacker”. Wrong again Fox, not a malfunction but DoT’s subliminal message.
March 28th, 2011 at 11:15 am
People automatically assume that it has to be a computer hacker because computers are magic.
Far more likely that someone got up there and packed snow into or otherwise obscured the LEDs to create the effect. Of course the DOT isn’t going to admit that because they don’t want anyone else getting ideas for creative ways to vandalize signals.
March 28th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
OK, you traffic geeks (meant in the most complimentary way), explain this to me: at intersection “A,” a pedestrian crossing the street gets a “don’t walk” countdown signal starting at 22 seconds; at intersection “B,” which happens to be a just a block south of intersection “A”
March 28th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Sorry about that…fingers hit the wrong button. Anyway:
At intersection “A,” a pedestrian crossing the street gets a “don’t walk” flashing countdown signal starting at 22 seconds; at intersection “B,” which happens to be a just a block south of intersection “A,” a pedestrian crossing the exact same street gets a “don’t walk” flashing countdown signal starting at 9 seconds — between 22 and 9 seconds, the signal says “walk”. These are real intersections in downtown DC (along 7th Street NW) and I just do not get it.
I’m not so quick to dismiss the snow hypothesis, though — another malfunctioning pedestrian signal near my home was blamed by our local DOT on an electrical storm. Not quite the same problem (it was just holding a “don’t walk” way too long) as in the video, but made me wonder who manufactures these, and how often do they malfunction? Anybody know?
April 2nd, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Mike – the flashing hand ONLY display has been removed. Better?