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BourbonCoug t1_iy737d5 wrote

Reply to comment by meduses in You must STOP for pedestrians in crosswalks! by thegrumpycarp

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

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cassiecat 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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cornell256 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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cassiecat 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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nappleapple t1_iy7r3y4 wrote

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

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cassiecat 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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brightblade13 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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cassiecat 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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BitterGravity t1_iy8xcxw wrote

Nearly all in DC only flash yellow when a button is pressed.

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CrownStarr 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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cassiecat 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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drphungky t1_iyalkeo wrote

PG County has them. I've definitely seen one there.

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braaaaaaaaaaaah 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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cassiecat 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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