Dear Editor,
Drat! I missed the walk light. Should I stay, or should I go?
Please tell me why the walk lights at main intersections need to be activated by pushing a button when the light changes?
I don’t get it.
Walk lights should automatically come on at all main intersections without having to push a button.
If there is no one there to walk across, so be it; it has no affect on drivers.
Think of people who have mobility issues.
Can you imagine how tiring, perhaps painful or just plain freezing it is to have to wait for the next walk light on a cold rainy day because they want to obey the light.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
If it does extend the green light a few more seconds, so be it; I am a driver, too, and I think I can handle waiting an extra 10-20 seconds at a light; a person with mobility issues does not have that luxury.
I think most drivers understand this and naturally allow pedestrians to cross, even though the walk light hasn’t been activated before they turn right or left.
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However, I have had a driver turning right, beep at me when I crossed in front of him because the walk light hadn’t been activated yet the light was green for him.
I guess you could call me a rebel here for not being a good pedestrian and waiting in the rain for another two minutes for the next time the light changes.
I have also seen many pedestrians waiting for the next time the light changes, because the walk light didn’t come on.
As [U.S.] president-elect JB [Joe Biden] would say, “Come on…” It’s a no brainer to me.
City planners and engineers, please educate me if I am totally off base here and there is a perfectly logical explanation to this – because, obviously I don’t see it.
Noreen Cross, Maple Ridge
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