{"id":741,"date":"2012-07-19T21:03:45","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T02:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/?p=741"},"modified":"2016-06-06T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-07T01:32:09","slug":"center-city-philadelphias-lack-of-pedestrian-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/2012\/07\/center-city-philadelphias-lack-of-pedestrian-signals\/","title":{"rendered":"Center City Philadelphia&#8217;s Lack of Pedestrian Signals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is my second log-entry for my Human-Computer Interaction class this summer.<\/p>\n<p>When I first moved to Center City, Philadelphia, one thing that struck me as odd was the use of regular traffic lights as pedestrian signals. Even at the intersection of two one-way streets, there would be traffic signals in all four directions. There are generally not separate pedestrian signals.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"320\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Lj3oBYLK1Wc\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nPedestrian signals in Center City, Philadelphia<\/p>\n<p>While you will find separate pedestrian signals at broad intersections, these are the exceptions rather than the rule. (Perhaps other cities do this too, but if so I have not taken notice.)<\/p>\n<p>After living here for years, it very quickly becomes a part of the landscape and no longer seems abnormal. But I took notice again this year on the 4th of July: a big holiday in Philadelphia that draws a lot of tourists. I noticed a fair number of confused pedestrians, but also a couple of drivers who attempted to drive the wrong way down one-way streets.<\/p>\n<p>It is a convention at most intersections in most cities that if one direction has a visible traffic light, traffic is expected to flow in that direction. Drivers from out-of-town, many of whom are not used to one-way streets, see these pedestrian signals and think they indicate the direction of traffic. But really, it&#8217;s only foot traffic, on the sidewalk, that flows that direction. Sure, there are other visible signs: one-way signs and cars parked facing only the opposite direction. In the absence of immediate oncoming traffic, though, those signals can really send the wrong signal.<\/p>\n<p>Why did Philadelphia choose to use the usual automobile traffic signals for pedestrian signals? I assume it saves money: not that the signals themselves are necessarily more costly, but that one computer\/controller&#8211;or perhaps a simpler controller&#8211;can manage each intersection. I don&#8217;t really know the reason, though. I definitely feel that it is a mistake to break such a common convention. On the other hand, though I have seen confused pedestrians and drivers, I have yet to see an accident caused by this confusion.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.east-inflatables.com\/blog\/how-to-rent-an-inflatables-from-east-inflatables-2.html\">Rental<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is my second log-entry for my Human-Computer Interaction class this summer. When I first moved to Center City, Philadelphia, one thing that struck me as odd was the use of regular traffic lights as pedestrian signals. Even at the intersection of two one-way streets, there would be traffic signals in all four directions. There &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/2012\/07\/center-city-philadelphias-lack-of-pedestrian-signals\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Center City Philadelphia&#8217;s Lack of Pedestrian Signals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[259,265,263,262,264],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-user-interface","tag-hci","tag-pedestrian-signals","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-traffic-signals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1497,"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions\/1497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osric.com\/chris\/accidental-developer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}