{"id":2393,"date":"2007-10-18T10:59:36","date_gmt":"2007-10-18T14:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2393"},"modified":"2007-10-18T12:50:12","modified_gmt":"2007-10-18T16:50:12","slug":"countdown-signals-the-verdict-is-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/10\/18\/countdown-signals-the-verdict-is-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown signals: the verdict is in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.walkarlington.com\/gfx\/ped%20signal%20countdown%20hand%201.jpg\" alt=\"Pedestrian countdown signal\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The verdict appears to be in about the new countdown signals. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/News\/GTA\/article\/268191\">Toronto Star<\/a> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www3.thestar.com\/static\/PDF\/071018_new_signs.pdf\">full PDF article<\/a>) is reporting that pedestrian fatalities are down this year, and city staff are placing much of the credit on the new pedestrian countdown signals. With 14 pedestrian fatalities so far in 2007, Toronto is on track to setting a ten year-low. (The high was 50 in 2002 and the low was 26 in 2000). Road-safety groups have provided very positive feedback to the conversions. Back in July <a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=2112\">we asked you<\/a> your thoughts on the signals, of which most of it was very positive.<\/p>\n<p>There was no additional cost in adding the countdown signal with the conversion to lower-energy LED lights from the older dual-box incandescent signals, as LED-lit pedestrian signals required only a single aspect, compared to the  signal heads.<\/p>\n<p>Seniors appear to be a primary beneficiary of the countdown signals, and there is a greater understanding of the &#8220;flashing hand&#8221; phase for both motorists and pedestrians, and indicates that pedestrians can be in the crosswalk up to the zero-second mark, where the simple flashing hand had more ambiguity. One of the biggest concerns has turned out to be moot. According to police, motorists have not been speeding through intersections to make the light with seconds left on the timers.<\/p>\n<p>There are other initiatives that have gone unmentioned in the article but may also contribute to the low fatality rate this year. These include the replacement of many yellow-flashing pedestrian crossover signals with full traffic lights. Other crossovers have been improved with larger signal aspects and additional lights mounted on poles in addition to the ones hung over the crosswalk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The verdict appears to be in about the new countdown signals. The Toronto Star (full PDF article) is reporting that pedestrian fatalities are down this year, and city staff are placing much of the credit on the new pedestrian countdown signals. With 14 pedestrian fatalities so far in 2007, Toronto is on track to setting<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/10\/18\/countdown-signals-the-verdict-is-in\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Countdown signals: the verdict is in&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[7006,416,339,19,341],"class_list":["post-2393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-traffic","category-walking","tag-lower-energy","tag-pdf","tag-the-toronto-star","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Countdown signals: the verdict is in - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/10\/18\/countdown-signals-the-verdict-is-in\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Countdown signals: the verdict is in - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The verdict appears to be in about the new countdown signals. The Toronto Star (full PDF article) is reporting that pedestrian fatalities are down this year, and city staff are placing much of the credit on the new pedestrian countdown signals. 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