Citizen complaint of the day: The impatient pedestrian-crossing light on Tremont Street

A harried citizen complains about the light at Tremont and Park:

The walk countdown went '17-16-15-0' and the traffic light turned green.

Comments

a few days ago longwood+brookline was showing walk+don't walk

Waited for the walk signal, chimes came on, and both walk+don't walk were lit up.

They've been replacing street lights and traffic lights with LED units for ages now, and they're far more reliable. You'd think they could spend the extra time keeping things working.

While we're at it: why do you have to wait two minutes to cross the Jamaicaway by the pond at either intersection? Not amusing in 25 degree weather or cold rain.

I was just

in New Orleans, and all of their street signs say "Walk" and "Don't walk" at the same time. It was very confusing at first, then hilarious.

Yeah, well...

New Orleans... :)

Menino?

'17-16-15-0'. No surprise in Boston. Sounds like Menino counting backwards.

Makes me think of the impatient cow

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Impatient cow.
Impatient c-
MOOOO!

Impatient Cow

That's Interrupting Co..

MOO.

Tufts Medical Center area patients haven't enough time to cross

Tufts Medical Center area patients haven't enough time to cross Washington/Stuart/Kneeland Streets because of the bad timing of that set of traffic lights

I see a win-win

Fist is that it provides the hospital with a source of patients. Second is that it is good that the hospital is near for the people who are hit. So it's a win-win for everyone!

Does the light always do

Does the light always do this, or just once? Lights are allowed to do stuff like that if they're pre-empted for an emergency vehicle.

Traffic signals in the City Of Boston

aren't rigged for emergency pre-emption by fire trucks, ambulances, and the like. I don't know the rationale for this, but it's a long standing City policy that predates the introduction of pedestrian countdown signals.

Not the only light doing this

Another complaint, this time about a light on Devonshire (at Franklin, I think):

The countdown currently goes from 18,17,16, and then straight to 0.

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