Important corrective to the pedestrian dynamics. You do not check to see if the cars are capable of stopping for you—you assume that the cars will keep going straight at their current speed. Only if you can cross safely under that circumstance do you cross. Assuming the car will actively change what it is doing is a way to get killed.
And it’s super frustrating when it is clear that a car will be well past you by the time you reach them, then you start to cross, then they slow down, and now you have to stop too because you don’t know if it’s safe. This happens all the time outside of the east coast, and even happens in small towns in the east sometimes, and it’s maddening.
Also note that you can do what SF people do and wait for the light even when no cars are coming, I mean, if you think your life is too long and you want to give away some of it for no reason and never get it back. As you do. You can eventually cross that way.
You do not check to see if the cars are capable of stopping for you—you assume that the cars will keep going straight at their current speed.
Hmm, I feel like there are actually two different modes? In one of them, yes, you assume the car will continue on at its current speed, and you start walking expecting to pass ahead or behind it. On the other hand, when there’s enough traffic that you would have to wait indefinitely with that method (and there’s no light etc) there’s a mode where you stare at the car and start walking out, and then they slow down to let you cross. You do this with enough leeway that if they don’t see you (or are a jerk) you still have time to stop before you would get run down?
It is my experience that in Massachusetts cities (and even semi-urban towns), only attempting to cross if you will make it without the cars slowing down is only possible when waiting for the light. If you wait for the light, you then have the luxury of only attempting to cross if no car will interrupt you at its current speed and heading. Enough drivers treat red lights as guidelines that pedestrians must assume that all drivers will, so this is a nontrivial requirement. (I’d say ‘imagine NYC except everyone’s a taxi driver’, but last I was in NYC that was nearly true already.)
It’s unwise and uncommon to go full Schelling—i.e. performatively blindfolding yourself and then walking backwards into traffic—and it is normal and advisable to leave substantial safety margin, probably 3x-5x the technical minimum stopping distance, rather than assume they will detect it instantly. But you essentially must have to dare them to blink first, or you’ll never get to cross.
Important corrective to the pedestrian dynamics. You do not check to see if the cars are capable of stopping for you—you assume that the cars will keep going straight at their current speed. Only if you can cross safely under that circumstance do you cross. Assuming the car will actively change what it is doing is a way to get killed.
And it’s super frustrating when it is clear that a car will be well past you by the time you reach them, then you start to cross, then they slow down, and now you have to stop too because you don’t know if it’s safe. This happens all the time outside of the east coast, and even happens in small towns in the east sometimes, and it’s maddening.
Also note that you can do what SF people do and wait for the light even when no cars are coming, I mean, if you think your life is too long and you want to give away some of it for no reason and never get it back. As you do. You can eventually cross that way.
Hmm, I feel like there are actually two different modes? In one of them, yes, you assume the car will continue on at its current speed, and you start walking expecting to pass ahead or behind it. On the other hand, when there’s enough traffic that you would have to wait indefinitely with that method (and there’s no light etc) there’s a mode where you stare at the car and start walking out, and then they slow down to let you cross. You do this with enough leeway that if they don’t see you (or are a jerk) you still have time to stop before you would get run down?
It is my experience that in Massachusetts cities (and even semi-urban towns), only attempting to cross if you will make it without the cars slowing down is only possible when waiting for the light. If you wait for the light, you then have the luxury of only attempting to cross if no car will interrupt you at its current speed and heading. Enough drivers treat red lights as guidelines that pedestrians must assume that all drivers will, so this is a nontrivial requirement. (I’d say ‘imagine NYC except everyone’s a taxi driver’, but last I was in NYC that was nearly true already.)
It’s unwise and uncommon to go full Schelling—i.e. performatively blindfolding yourself and then walking backwards into traffic—and it is normal and advisable to leave substantial safety margin, probably 3x-5x the technical minimum stopping distance, rather than assume they will detect it instantly. But you essentially must have to dare them to blink first, or you’ll never get to cross.