I think that certain areas where there is high pedestrian traffic could
be declared "pedestrian priority" districts or something like that. You
could
slow down traffic by having every intersection signalled in such an area, if
they aren't already, and not timed to allow drivers to speed through
readily,
except for signal preempts for Muni. If the blocks are long, as they are on
Market St., midblock crosswalks will discourage jaywalking, as well as
providing another opportunity to bring traffic to a halt.
Three pet peeves of mine are (a) closing off one of the sides of an
intersection
to pedestrian crossing to maximize car throughput (usually some left turn
scheme), (b) not striping stop signed intersections with crosswalks, and (c)
pedestrian
push buttons for signals at intersections. Buttons basically say,
"Pedestrians
are not as important as cars", and the same is true for closing off a side
of an
intersection for a turn priority scheme. Crosswalks should be striped at any
stop
signed intersection where there is any significant amount of traffic,
otherwise
drivers do not automatically assume pedestrians are to be expected there.
A couple weeks ago, for example, some testosterone-poisoned individual in a
yellow pickup squealed away from a stop just inches after I cleared his
fenders, crossing
the street in front of him on Bryant St., and gave me the finger. He seemed
to
assume that I didn't have the right to cross at the intersection (19th St.)
because
there are no crosswalks there, tho there is a stop sign. I was hard put to
otherwise
explain his bizarre behavior since I was not being slow (I'm a fairly fast
walker)
or otherwise acting unusually.
Tom Wetzel