‘Green man’ trial: More time for elderly pedestrians

Okay, the title is right out from the Straits Times dated 13th October 2006. It’s an article by some guy named T. Rajan.

(Yes, it’s been a while since I updated this blog.)

Anyway, there’s going to be a trial for lengthening the blinking green man signal by five seconds when eldery pedestrians with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag approach a traffic light that has been installed with special electronic card readers.

However, the extra time will be activated only if the elderly person arrives before the pedestrian light changes to a steady “green man”. It will not be activated once the light has changed to green or if it is already flashing.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will begin trials of the system at the junction of Toa Payoh Central and Lorong 4 by the year end. It will involve 30 pedestrians over the age of 65.

Well, it’s not a bad idea. But good luck trying to educate the pedestrians on when the system will obey their RFID tags and when they will be ignored.

I find the RFID activation rather limiting. If eldery pedestrians arrive at the traffic light some 2 seconds after the green man appears, is it too unreasonable to expect that the RFID will work for them?

Furthermore, how can users of the RFID system know it has been activated and that the crossing time has been lengthened? The article makes no mention of that.

Let me be a good Singaporean and contribute to society: I suggest a green man with a walking stick when the elderly RFID is activated and a green man without a walking stick when it is not.

Anyway, the point of this entry was to share with you some interesting facts that the article revealed. (Just in case you don’t read the Straits Times.)

• There are 1,300 pedestrain lights at traffic junctions in Singapore in addition to 600 “mid-block” crossings, which are not at road intersections.
• Pedestrians are given between two and eight seconds to step off the kerb and cross before the green man starts flashing.
• The green man flashes for approximately 15 seconds on an 18m wide road, which means pedestrians have to walk across at a speed of 1.2m per second.

Well, I found that interesting. Just in case you’re thinking “so what?”.

Now I’m wondering if this crossing length of time is an international standard? If so, it must be very frustrating for people who live in cities where they walk faster and everything happens at a faster pace, like in New York, or Hong Kong. And in cities where it’s slower, crossing the street must be quite a tense experience having to walk at 1.2m a second!

If it’s not an international standard, how did the LTA come up with these timings for pedestrian crossings?

Now, the second point, where pedestrians are expected to step off the kerb between two and eight seconds. Since this is a given, why should it be unreasonable to expect the RFID reader to be activated even after the green man has started if it is within this period?

I mean, how does it help the elderly, if he arrives two seconds after the green man has started at a road where the lights assume that the pedestrian must step off the kerb within eight seconds?

Assuming the road is 18m wide and the green man flashes for 15 seconds, the elderly pedestrian has to wait those six seconds out, plus the 15 seconds of blinking, then wait for the red man, before he can finally cross for that extra 5 seconds.

If I were him, I’d just risk it.