http://www.statenews.com At the beginning of the semester, an MSU student was hit by a vehicle while riding her bicycle across the Michigan Avenue and Harrison Road intersection. The police said it was her fault. en-us Gryphon 2.2.3b-tsn (woodward)/Foundry5 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:57:24 -0400 webmaster@statenews.com http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/45504 I don’t think this walk signal is mistimed. The traffic signal at this intersection is phased in a way that makes the walk-signal timing necessary. The “Walk” light comes on at the same time that the north- and south-bound traffic lights turn green (as you would expect). After about 19 seconds, the southbound traffic signal turns red, while the northbound traffic signal remains green and gets an additional green arrow for unrestricted left turns onto Michigan Avenue. At this point, the “Don’t Walk” signal is on for the crosswalk across Michigan. This is a standard and necessary practice. Any intersection that uses green turn arrows does it, to prevent conflicts that pedestrians in the crosswalk would otherwise have with vehicles that are turning as a result of the green arrow. I suppose it would be possible to use different timing for the north-south pedestrian signals on the east side of the intersection, since they are unaffected by the green arrow. I don’t think I have ever seen an intersection where parallel walk lights are “decoupled” from each other this way, so I don’t know if it’s possible, or if perhaps there is a safety reason that they don’t do it. Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:22:34 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/45504 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/45539 Clarification: The accident you reference actually took place in the east-west pedestrian crossing located just south of the Kellogg Center. Your ending comments apply to this crosswalk as well as the Michigan Ave. – Harrison intersections, and many others around campus – walking, biking or driving – pay attention. Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:22:11 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/45539 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/45542 I live near this intersection and I have crossed it many times and never noticed any danger in the timing. You say that maybe they expect people to stop at the median and wait for another walk sign like that is just such a preposterous idea. That’s what I do and I’ve seen others do that as well. If you are on sidewalk, out of the way of oncoming traffic and it’s a blinking red, it means don’t cross. That applies just as much on a median as any other section of sidewalk. I’ve had to cross that intersections to get from where I live to work and on days when I’m running late it sucks that the walk light doesn’t last as long as it takes me to cross both sections of road. But I don’t want to get hit by a car, so when it says don’t walk, and cars are coming (or will be coming as soon as they get the green light) I wait for traffic to clear or to get a walk sign. Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:57:24 -0400 http://www.statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/45542