W
wyliepoon
Guest
I really like the new countdown timers on the pedestrian signals in Toronto and York Region. Now pedestrians and also drivers can make a decision on whether they should cross the street by looking at how much time is remaining until the light changes to yellow. They're brighter than the conventional signals and they save energy. What's there not to like about them?
Link to article
Countdown timers not warranted, Peel says
Pedestrian lights
Tanya Flanagan
National Post
Friday, February 02, 2007
Toronto is expanding its new pedestrian countdown timers to all of the city's 1,500 intersections, but Peel region says its experimentation with them hasn't warranted region-wide implementation.
Shawn Dillon, Toronto's supervisor of traffic signals, said the countdown timers will cost the city an estimated $17.7-million.
"The goal of this initiative is to improve pedestrian safety by helping them make better choices. Getting through the whole city is going to take some time, but at the end of the day we will see an energy savings of 85% with every signal that we complete."
More than 250 Toronto intersections have been converted to timers since the program launched in November as part of the city's conversion from incandescent to LED lights. The city is anticipating $2.1-million in annual energy savings.
And in a city where more than 200 pedestrians are hit every month, the city hopes the lights will also reduce the number of pedestrian accidents.
Peel will not be following Toronto's lead in implementing region wide pedestrian countdown timers, said Joe Avsec, the municipality's supervisor of traffic signals.
Although he said the timers are useful in certain locations, he is not convinced that their widespread implementation is warranted.
"They are useful in intersections that have a high potential for accidents, high pedestrian volume and seniors in the area, but they are not warranted in all intersections," Mr. Avsec said.
John Clarke, Mississauga's supervisor of traffic signal street lighting, said his city has tried the lights at certain intersections but they do not know enough about their utility or long-term costs to warrant Toronto's wide scale implementation.
Vancouver is also erring on the side of caution.
"They are a fairly new technology. We are trying to find out if there are any benefits in using them. We want to ensure that they are providing valuable information and additional safety for pedestrians. We work with taxpayers' money and we want to make sure that we use that wisely," said Vancouver's transportation engineer, Winston Chou.
Toronto is the first city in Canada to implement these units on a large scale and it aims to replace all of their pedestrian lights to countdowns by 2011.
Link to article
Countdown timers not warranted, Peel says
Pedestrian lights
Tanya Flanagan
National Post
Friday, February 02, 2007
Toronto is expanding its new pedestrian countdown timers to all of the city's 1,500 intersections, but Peel region says its experimentation with them hasn't warranted region-wide implementation.
Shawn Dillon, Toronto's supervisor of traffic signals, said the countdown timers will cost the city an estimated $17.7-million.
"The goal of this initiative is to improve pedestrian safety by helping them make better choices. Getting through the whole city is going to take some time, but at the end of the day we will see an energy savings of 85% with every signal that we complete."
More than 250 Toronto intersections have been converted to timers since the program launched in November as part of the city's conversion from incandescent to LED lights. The city is anticipating $2.1-million in annual energy savings.
And in a city where more than 200 pedestrians are hit every month, the city hopes the lights will also reduce the number of pedestrian accidents.
Peel will not be following Toronto's lead in implementing region wide pedestrian countdown timers, said Joe Avsec, the municipality's supervisor of traffic signals.
Although he said the timers are useful in certain locations, he is not convinced that their widespread implementation is warranted.
"They are useful in intersections that have a high potential for accidents, high pedestrian volume and seniors in the area, but they are not warranted in all intersections," Mr. Avsec said.
John Clarke, Mississauga's supervisor of traffic signal street lighting, said his city has tried the lights at certain intersections but they do not know enough about their utility or long-term costs to warrant Toronto's wide scale implementation.
Vancouver is also erring on the side of caution.
"They are a fairly new technology. We are trying to find out if there are any benefits in using them. We want to ensure that they are providing valuable information and additional safety for pedestrians. We work with taxpayers' money and we want to make sure that we use that wisely," said Vancouver's transportation engineer, Winston Chou.
Toronto is the first city in Canada to implement these units on a large scale and it aims to replace all of their pedestrian lights to countdowns by 2011.
