As part of Mayor Kahn’s plan to increase daily walking trips in London from 6 million to 7 million by 2041, the City of London is looking at how to make walking safer, comfortable and more convenient for walkers. While adjusting signals to give pedestrian more “green man” time at signalized intersections, staff will also be using “SCOOT”.
SCOOT stands for “Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique” which will be installed at ten intersections to give pedestrians priority. The city of London is on a mission to make walking as convenient as possible, using smarter traffic signals that reduce wait times for pedestrians. These smart signals ” can detect the number of pedestrians waiting at an intersection and automatically adjust timing to minimize their wait and ensure they have enough time to cross” according to Streetsblog.
And here’s the cool part~the “Green Man” initiative allows for a continuous pedestrian green signal until vehicular traffic is near, when pedestrians are then given the red signal. The technology has been tested by Transport for London on two streets with only bus traffic prior to this wider rollout, and was very well received by pedestrians. This is all part of the London Walking Action plan which can be viewed here.
This sounds wonderful.
We pay lip service to prioritizing pedestrians, but we do the opposite. Pedestrians are much more likely than cars to experience a wait at traffic lights, and they are much more likely to have to wait longer. Because motordom: walk signal treat pedestrians like cars, when they are not.
What I am about to say applies throughout the suburbs. The situation downtown is better because the pedestrian signals automatically change when lights turn green.
A car driving up to an intersection will often be able to drive through a green light without stopping. The typical wait for a green is thus about 1/4 of a cycle. For pedestrians, this is rarely the case: most lights will never give a walk signal unless the button is pressed *and* there’s plenty of time left in the green light signal. There almost never is, meaning the button must be pressed *before* the light turns green. It is normal to have to wait until the next green light cycle. On average, pedestrians typically have to wait about half a cycle – twice as long as cars.
On top of this, pedestrians have to wait for _two_ walk signals when crossing kitty-corner. Cars making a turn need only wait when turning. Put all this together, and traffic lights slow pedestrians twice as much as cars.
Pedestrians are much more sensitive to delays than are drivers. Drivers are willing to commute 30 minutes. Pedestrians aren’t. Exposed to the elements and the traffic, most are only willing to walk 5-10 minutes to a destination. A signaled intersection can easily add 2 minutes to travel time. When making an appointment, it doesn’t matter if one might get lucky with the light: that 20% has to be accounted for. A 10 minute walk becomes a possible 12-14 minute walk, which is then never made.
If we truly believe in prioritizing pedestrians, then we must change our signal standards to ensure that the average pedestrian delay from signals is *not more* than the average car delay.