Shining a light on the traffic signals of Sydney(jakecoppinger.com) |
Shining a light on the traffic signals of Sydney(jakecoppinger.com) |
I cover and share previously unpublished maps of signal timings, ODbL crowdsourced data from a open source website I built, how it costs $200 to buy data on a single intersection from the state government, details on signal programming in a proprietary plain text format, comparisons with best practice in Copenhagen and elsewhere, and what's in store for the future of traffic signals in Australia.
Sydney is an important study location as it is the birthplace and development location of the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (abbreviated SCATS).
Our government sells the system commercially to 30 countries and 200 cities around the world. We are quite literally exporting our biases. Countries that use Australia's traffic light system include New Zealand, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Amman, Tehran, Dublin, Rzeszów, Gdynia, Central New Jersey, and in part of Metro Atlanta. [1]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Coordinated_Adaptive_Tr...
They don't immediately cross when they get a walk signal?
Does this mean that for pedestrian walk times to be increased, there must necessarily be a reduction of cars within Sydney city?
It is funny that the 'adaptive' system is flooded so it becomes a fixed system. The City of Sydney is going to have to recognise that to increase economic activity in the city there will have to be a reduction of cars to allow more persons access to this important economic space.
Another big point I think is the idea of a wave of green lights so cyclists do not have to stop every block. Could a 'wave' idea also be used for cars to progress quicker - or will it just slow down other cars further?
This is a really great analysis and wonderful blog post - keep up the great work.
The City of Sydney _council_ definitely realises this - however the state transport agency (TfNSW) has historically prioritised vehicle throughput over placemaking, though the Movement and Place Framework is starting to change this (this framework takes a lot of inspiration from Gehl's work).
A bunch of the streets in my city do this, and it's awesome. Particularly when there's another car that doesn't know about it, so they're constantly speeding to next red light, where my relatively sedate pace gets me constant green lights, and I smile as I repeatedly pass the speeder that is trying to accelerate from a complete stop.
"As things stood now, a downtown shopper needed a four-leaf clover, a voodoo charm, and a St. Christopher's medal to make it in one piece from one curbstone to the other. As far as I was concerned — a traffic engineer with Methodist leanings — I didn't think that the Almighty should be bothered with problems which we, ourselves, were capable of solving."
California also doesn't have jaywalking fines anymore I think, so... Yeah I'm just going to cross where/when I think it's safe. Which is also often NOT when it's green because cars be crazy.
If you don't already know, you should read about the historical origin of the term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking#Origin_of_the_term
I've heard there is still present issues with lack of documentation, and more experienced folk having left the development team.
So car, truck, taxi, ride-share, delivery van traffic has been funneled onto ever dwindling number of roads and parking has become extremely scarce. As a result congestion has gotten worse.
Like it's rare for kids to die at school here. They don't get shot. So that's something.
Another cultural observation, when living in Boston, my partner and I both found it strange that if you were standing on the side of the road, cars will stop and wait for you to cross, even if you were nowhere near a crossing or intersection. Cars seems to give way to pedestrians anywhere an everywhere.
In Australia, cars wont stop for you unless you are at a crossing, and even then you need to make sure they have seen you. Cars zooming through a green light are not going to be looking for pedestrians walking against a red walk signal. The onus is on the pedestrian to not be hit, not the car to avoid the pedestrian.
Update: Also.. its hard not to take this persons criticism personally, so when they say "the UK / Australia model where everyone obeys some stupid rule written on the wall over their own intelligence" I would just like to respond that is a combination of wanting to be polite and courteous to the sign poster, and intelligent enough to know we don't know everything, that the sign might be for our own safety. :)
You can always have cautious children become more adventurous later, but it's unlikely to ever go the reverse direction.
My breakfast view is a school crosswalk and all children wait for cars and cyclists, most even wait for a complete stop before crossing (N=100).
Australians for the most part are absolutely "disgustingly devoted to following tiny guidelines", but jaywalking is also extremely common.