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t1_iy6bq6b wrote

I believe this is absolutely the most dangerous situation for pedestrians — one car stops and blocks view and the car behind or on the side (multiple lanes) continues. Remember that viral video of the little kid in maryland almost getting killed? That was that scenario. It’s super dangerous, always pay extra attention when you can’t see all lanes.

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t1_iy6cf8p wrote

On a similar note, crosswalks across more than one lane in each direction absolutely should have a light. There's always somebody who stops in one lane and then a bunch of assholes who keep going in the other.

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t1_iy6o8bo wrote

Or at least those little light up flashy signs as a second indicator if the city doesn't want to install 900 new stoplights

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t1_iy737d5 wrote

Wish the little light up flashy signs had red lights instead of yellow.

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t1_iy7as19 wrote

Red lights would imply a mandatory stop, so they won't do that. A flashing red means stop like a stop sign. This is not practical at all crosswalks. Flashing yellow is what it is and what it should stay, unless they want to add a redlight triggered by crosswalk button pushes

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t1_iy8323k wrote

The crosswalk at 16th and Kalorama NW will flash yellow, then flash red, and then go solid red. This is the only one I know of but I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. It works well in my experience.

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t1_iy8hq37 wrote

That's roughly the kind I'm referring to, though the ones I've seen are a stop light with the bottom position a flashing yellow, the middle a solid yellow (which it does a very quick aggressive series of flashes to indicate it's going to become a solid yellow), and then it's a hard red. Edit: you often see these at intersections where a fire house has trucks exiting the yard.

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t1_iy7r3y4 wrote

The flashing yellow lights are what is triggered by a crosswalk button in many of these cases.

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t1_iy7t397 wrote

Lol uhhh yeah, obviously.... But they also exist in a format where they flash all the time and there's no button, or in a literal stop light that's always flashing yellow but triggered to run a stop cycle when a pedestrian hits the cross button.

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t1_iy85xrp wrote

Disagree.

The flashing yellow lights are usually manually triggered by a pedestrian in the process of crossing, which is, itself, a mandatory stop.

The only difference would be that a red light would actually signal to the driver that the stop is, in fact, required while someone is crossing.

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t1_iy8hihb wrote

Have you never seen a crosswalk sign that flashes yellow at all times? That's what we're talking about.

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t1_iy96bzi wrote

I’m honestly not sure I ever have, do you have examples of some? I think I’ve only ever seen the ones that need a button press to turn on.

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t1_iya2d3l wrote

I don't recall specific intersections but I have seen them in multiple places all over MD, VA, PA, and DE. Can't definitely say I've seen one in DC though I'm sure I have

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t1_iy91rzj wrote

If someone is crossing, it’s already a mandatory stop. The flashing yellow lights (which are often very small not very visible during the day) are actually directly contradicting the law.

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t1_iya2532 wrote

They were saying they wanted red lights flashing on the crossing sign. They won't do that. I'm not referring to a stop light

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t1_iy7xjjp wrote

Those don't even help that much. Half of drivers just ignore them

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t1_iy8rwbo wrote

Half? At the one on Benning by my house, it's much closer to 100%. It's rare that anyone stops and I usually just wait for traffic to clear because the shitty light cycle at Benning and East Cap guarantees a regular gap in traffic.

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t1_iy8wky8 wrote

It would be very tempting to start carrying bricks if I lived near that.....

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t1_iy930ya wrote

I don't have to cross it all that regularly, fortunately.

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t1_iy8t1rl wrote

yeah they would just remove loads of crosswalks if they all had to have stoplights

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t1_iy6gxgu wrote

Random Uber and delivery drivers just do that anyway, so people become programmed to just go around those idiots.

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t1_iy7rd8t wrote

It’s not just them and they weren’t the first randomly stopping and double parking.

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t1_iy6qrwl wrote

I'm surprised someone is killed daily on 15th NW between Connecticut and U.

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t1_iy7jat3 wrote

I've always stopped full stop for pedestrians. And ppl almost always try to aggressively go around me or start honking. I don't understand what people's problem is. Like is your pregnant wife having a heart attack in the passenger seat atm or something

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t1_iy6x1z4 wrote

I try to watch if it's a two lane scenario and start splitting the lane if it looks like whoever is coming up behind me isn't stopping. Can't do that at every intersection though.

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t1_iy93oym wrote

In Portland I got so frustrated with cars who would "kindly" yield to me out of the blue when I didn't have the right of way, for this very reason. I don't mind waiting an extra moment to eliminate my chance of getting smeared by the car in the other lane that can't see me.

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t1_iy7np1j wrote

I had to brake hard once because of this. I do stop for pedestrians, but I couldn’t see there was a person behind the giant pickup. I just braked when I realized the pickup was stopping.

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t1_iy6e57c wrote

[deleted]

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t1_iy6hkjv wrote

... waited??

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t1_iy6irg6 wrote

[deleted]

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t1_iy6kvz5 wrote

If it was a route that you were familiar with and you knew a crosswalk was there and you did not have a good view of what was ahead of you? You stop.

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t1_iy6ns5z wrote

Assume that there is someone in the crosswalk until you are certain that there is not. That may require stopping.

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