[TOR] "One giant diagonal step for pedestrians"

[rfmcdonald]

From Spacing Toronto's Dylan Reid comes the post "One giant diagonal step for pedestrians".

Starting on Thursday, pedestrians will be able to cross the intersection of Yonge and Dundas diagonally, without worrying about cars.

The City is ready to activate a “pedestrian priority phase” at this intersection. In addition to the regular east-west and north-south traffic phases, there will be a phase specifically for pedestrians to cross the intersection any which way they want. All the vehicle traffic signals will be red, and all the pedestrian signals will signal “walk” — including new signals facing diagonally across the intersection. The pedestrian priority phase will be 28 seconds out of a total 80-second cycle for the three traffic signal phases.

During the regular traffic phases, pedestrians will still be able to cross in the normal way, too. This is a change — and a huge improvement for pedestrians — from the way many of these systems work in other cities, where pedestrians can’t cross during the car traffic phases. It was made easier by the fact that cars are already not allowed to make any turns at this intersection. It’s a good decision by the city — it means the new phase is a clear benefit for pedestrians, rather than a trade-off with potentially longer wait times.

.

(Yonge and Dundas, for those of you who don't know, is one of the busiest intersections of downtown Toronto.)

The reaction from toronto seems to be one of confusion about how the rules will play out. My reaction is confusion as to how the rules of the crossing will play out. I assume that various of my readers live in communities with pedestrian scrambles: How do they work out for you, and your community?