Of course it’s a burden. Every idiot who runs a red light/stop sign and then plows into another car/scooter, pedestrian ends up costing the system probably hundreds of thousands of dollars. Possibly millions if you include lost productivity etc. Multiply this by how many morons do this on a daily basis and you’ve got a real financial mess.
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Taiwan is not “many countries”. I’m sure it works for some countries that don’t have many pedestrians. I said it’s not realistic in Taiwan.
I see a problematic issue in cities with the traffic lights. There is no dedicated green light for turning cars with a red for pedestrians. In high foot traffic area during a green light only a few cars can make the turn, because there is a constant stream of pedestrians. The drivers try to dangerously squeeze in. Many of those lights also have 90+ seconds turnaround. Cars backup quickly.
There should be a dedicated green for pedestrians from all directions, then a dedicated green for cars. I only saw such crossing once in Taipei. They optimize the traffic lights for cars not pedestrian safety.
This intersection has green phase for pedestrians only, making it possible to cross in the center.
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Some busier intersections with endless pedestrians have them. Same in the US. In Hong Kong, 90% of intersections have them, because 90% of intersections are busy with endless pedestrians.
There is a reason not every single intersection has them. Same reason that not every intersection has a roundabout. As with everything in the world, there are pros and cons to them.
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And what are you basing this on? What makes Taiwan so special that it has to somehow always have cars and pedestrians using the crossing at the same time? Pure drivel.
There is a crossing like this right outside my house, every day I see old people fail to make it accross.
Something like 30 seconds to get accross 8 lanes, with no island in the middle.
From a country which claims to respect it’s elders…
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Heavy pedestrian traffic.
And I wouldn’t say Taiwan is special. I would say countries that require vehicles to wait until all pedestrians have completely cleared the crosswalk are the special ones.
This isn’t required in any of the countries and US states I’ve ever driven in, except Arizona. They have almost no pedestrians there.
Never said that mate. The lights would dictate that. Why is this such a hard concept for you? It’s the default road crossing concept. The very same one that Taiwan uses there is a crossing on a straight road without a turn.
Oh, you were talking about turning vehicles and pedestrians each getting their own green light? Sorry I thought you were talking about something completely different (vehicles yielding until the pedestrian has completely crossed the road).
In that case, see my response above to another person who was also suggesting that:
I think efforts should be taken on scooters, as in there’s way too many of them here, especially in Taipei. And scooter drivers are often far more reckless than cars. At least with cars you can see them coming but scooters are often loud and likes to dart around traffic as if they’re in a hurry to die.
There is no reason to justify having them in Taiwan besides prioritizing traffic, that’s it. And we all know that’s the case, cars and scooters are prioritized over pedestrians.
Until that changes don’t expect to see any meaningful improvements to the traffic rules here.
I agree that more intersections in Taiwan should have them, since a lot of intersections here are busy with pedestrian traffic. But I don’t think every intersection should have them, as you suggested.
Most intersections in Taiwan have almost zero pedestrians. We all know how much Taiwanese people hate walking.
Even in Hong Kong, only 90% of intersections have them. In some rural areas with almost zero pedestrians, pedestrians just cross at the same time as turning vehicles.
I don’t understand, @user86 Before you were saying that since Taiwan has a lot of pedestrians, some traffic solutions wouldn’t work here. But now you’re saying that most intersections have almost zero pedestrians because Taiwanese hate walking.
So, what is it?
IMO, Taiwan doesn’t have many pedestrians. When I compare it with other places I know well, there aren’t that many people walking here. I don’t blame them for not walking because being a pedestrian in Taiwan sucks at so many levels (all levels, actually).
P.S.: I am a pedestrian because I don’t have a car. With one, I won’t put a foot on the streets. Not until there are some significant changes.
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Aside from that the weather is hot most the year, which makes being a pedestrian suck more.
Yeah, like walking in the Nordic countries in winter is not cold.
Excuses. I’m from a country that it’s also very hot in the summer and people and authorities also use this excuse to support their anti-cycling politics.
Where’s that? Spain? Is it hot there in the summer?
I misunderstood a solution that someone else was suggesting, which would only work if pretty much ALL intersections in Taiwan had very few pedestrian traffic.
But of course that is not the case. While Taiwan has very few pedestrians, there are still a lot of streets in large city centers that have a lot of them.
But, work for whom?
If the goal is to keep as many private vehicles on the streets as possible. Then, yes, as long as they don’t run over pedestrians it should be good to allow them to cross the crosswalk while pedestrians are in it.
If the goal is to have as many pedestrians as possible (ergo less private vehicles) then everything that makes being a pedestrian safer, less stressful, more convenient and pleasant. Then, giving total priority to pedestrians in a crosswalk makes the more sense.
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Hotter than Taiwan in many regions. Just less humid.
It’s not about priorities. If you have separate green lights for pedestrians and turning vehicles in an intersection that doesn’t have much traffic, everybody suffers.
In those types of intersections, green lights are less frequent for everybody – vehicle or pedestrian.