Video Shows Crash Of Woman With Walker

by Thomas Breen | Feb 20, 2020 6:34 pm

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Posted to: Legal Writes, Westville, True Vote

A woman had her walker knocked from beneath her hands by a car hurtling through Westville, propelling her to the street with an injured hip. The driver was found at fault — and received a verbal warning to watch out for pedestrians in crosswalks in the future. That latest car-pedestrian collision took place Feb. 13 at around 2:19 p.m. on Whalley Avenue near the intersection with Blake Street. It comes as New Haveners are reeling from three pedestrian fatalities so far this year, following last year’s spike of nine walkers killed by cars on city streets. A video (shown at top of this story) recorded by a nearby surveillance camera at Lotta Studio shows the woman, who is 57, leaning on her walker as she crosses north on Whalley Avenue. She started crossing the intersection while she still had the right of way, with nearby cars stopped at their respective red lights and seven seconds left flashing on the pedestrian signal head. Within a few seconds of the pedestrian crossing signal reaching zero, a grey SUV hurtles around the corner from Blake Street, smacking right into the woman’s walker and leaving her sprawled in the middle of the road. The driver honks as the car continues by. (This is at the 13 second mark of the video above.) A half-dozen passerby rush out from their cars and the sidewalks and nearby stores to make sure she is OK while she remains lying in the middle of traffic. Westville top cop Westville top cop Lt. Elliot Rosa told the Independent that police cited the driver as at fault, and issued a verbal warning. The verbal warning was for failure to grant the right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. The woman was crossing in the crosswalk with the pedestrian right of way, but she didn’t make it to the other side of the street in time. Rosa said the operator of the car turning left onto Whalley from Blake Street did not drive through a red light, but rather started driving when he got the green. “It’s still the responsibility of the driver” not to endanger pedestrians when they’re crossing the street, he said. He said the woman complained of experiencing hip pain after the incident. She was transported to the hospital for further medical attention. He declined to release the identity of the woman. Police Chief Otoniel Reyes had not seen the video until shortly before this story was published. “This video is alarming,” Reyes said. “This is a serious incident.” He said he plans to look further into the incident and into whether stronger penalties should be applied. Meanwhile, he noted that the finding of fault against the driver ensures that the driver, not the woman, will be liable for any insurance costs. “The officers did appropriately find the driver at fault, which will afford the victim the ability to obtain compensation.” Rosa said he frequently gets complaints from Westville residents about pedestrian safety at that intersection as well as at the nearby intersection of Valley Street and Blake Street that is close to the entrance to Elm City Montessori School. He said this Feb. 13 incident is the first pedestrian-car crash that has taken place in the neighborhood since Rosa said he frequently gets complaints from Westville residents about pedestrian safety at that intersection as well as at the nearby intersection of Valley Street and Blake Street that is close to the entrance to Elm City Montessori School. He said this Feb. 13 incident is the first pedestrian-car crash that has taken place in the neighborhood since he took over as top cop in December. This Independent reporter recently went out to the intersection and timed the length of the pedestrian signal. It came in at just over 18 seconds, with the red flashing hand indicating that the lights are about to change appearing with 10 seconds left for pedestrians to cross. City transit chief Doug Hausladen said the light’s duration follows national signal plan standard recommendations: a seven second walk signal (the white walking symbol) followed by a 10 second flashing warning sign with a countdown clock. “We Put These Laws Into Effect For A Reason” New Haven State Rep. Roland Lemar (pictured), who chairs the state legislature’s Transportation Committee, described this video as showing “a perfect example of an operator being negligent with their vehicle, and they’re being left off the hook with a warning.” Not charging the operator under the state’s vulnerable user law or with any other criminal infraction “goes against everything we’ve been working towards, he said. He pointed to the city’s Complete Streets manual he helped develop as an alder back in 2007 as well as the state’s safe streets laws he’s pushed while representing parts of New Haven and East Haven in Hartford. Those laws are “all about street safety and pedestrian safety,” he said. “It’s always been about protecting this woman crossing the road.” He pointed to Sec. 14-300d of the state statutes. That says that “each operator of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or person propelling a human powered vehicle and shall give a reasonable warning by sounding a horn or other lawful noise emitting device to avoid a collision. An operator who violates any provision of this section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars.” He also pointed to Sec. 14-300, (b). That says that “a pedestrian started or starting across the highway on a “Walk” signal or on any such crosswalk on a green or “Go” signal shall have the right-of-way over all vehicles, including those making turns, until such pedestrian has reached the opposite curb or safety zone.” “This is an example of someone not exercising due caution when operating a vehicle,” Lemar said. “We put these laws into effect for a reason. And it is our expectation that they be used, particularly in light of the sobering state and national statistics” about pedestrian fatalities due to speeding and distracted driving. Lemar said that, on March 2, he will be hosting a Transportation Committee meeting at the state legislature in which he will try for the second year in a row to push through a variety of new and clarified safe streets bills that died in the state Senate last session. New Haven State Rep. Pat Dillon and New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield have also introduced this short state legislative session Proposed House Bill No. 5038: An Act Authorizing Bonds Of The State For Safety Improvement On Whalley Avenue In New Haven. The proposed bill calls on the State Bond Commission to authorize the issuance of $3 million worth of bonds “for the purpose of providing a grant-in-aid to the city of New Haven to improve safety on Whalley Avenue.” On Feb. 10, the bill was referred to the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding. “Whalley Avenue Has Become A Disaster” Westville/Amity Alder and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow (pictured) was also taken aback after watching the video on Thursday and hearing about the driver getting only a warning. Westville/Amity Alder and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow (pictured) was also taken aback after watching the video on Thursday and hearing about the driver getting only a warning. “That’s appalling,” he said. “Cars must yield to pedestrians that far in the crosswalk.” He said that he and Westville Alder Adam Marchand, who also represents parts of Westville Village, are pushing for greater enforcement against distracted driving and speeding. Furlow said that the police department has applied for a $60,000 grant from the state that would allow for a “targeted high visibility enforcement program” for distracted driving during the periods April 1 through April 30 and Aug. 1 through Aug. 15. One of the areas included in that distracted driving crackdown is Whalley Avenue. “If we’re honest about it, Whalley Avenue has become a disaster,” he said. Cars routinely travel at well above 25 miles per hour, whipping around anyone actually going the speed limit. He said he plans to promote a “Slow Down New Haven” campaign this summer to encourage driver education, heightened police enforcement of speed limits. “Our city as a whole has to slow down,” he said. “We’re just driving too fast on these streets.” Furlow said he also plans to amp up his pursuit to get the state to allow New Haven to reduce the speed limits on city-owned side streets from 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour. And he plans to keep pushing for traffic calming measures on Blake between Valley Street and Jewell Street, as well as for a crossing guard stationed at the intersection near Elm City Montessori. He pointed out that city transit chief Doug Hausladen recently installed a “No Turn On Red” sign at the northbound facing light at Valley and Blake. He pointed out that city transit chief Doug Hausladen recently installed a “No Turn On Red” sign at the northbound facing light at Valley and Blake. And while Blake is not eligible for speed humps because its daily through traffic is at too high of a volume, he called on city staff and neighbors to come up with some creative traffic calming measures beyond delineator tubes. “Add 8 Seconds There & You’re Good” Urban planner, Westville resident, and Urban planner, Westville resident, and Safe Streets New Haven activist Carolyn Lusch (pictured above at Lotta Studio) said she has some ideas as to what would make the Valley-Blake intersection safer. First and foremost: curb radius reduction. That would mean reconfiguring the intersection, either through a bumpout or a protected bike lane or delineators or some other means, to force cars to make a slightly tighter turn from Valley onto Blake or Blake onto Valley. Cars have to go slower in that situation, simply because of the design of the intersection. “I worry about that intersection every time I cross” with her child in a stroller, she said. “It’s extraordinarily dangerous,” added fellow Westville resident Bennett Lovett-Graff about the nearby Blake Street intersections. He pointed out that there is a podiatrist on that very block and many people with mobility issues. With such relatively little amount of time to cross the street when there are pedestrian signal heads, and with no stop signs near the various playgrounds on Blake Street, “It’s an accident waiting to happen.” Lusch said she was recently awarded $1,000 through the Westville/West Hills Community Management Team’s Neighborhood Public Improvement Program (NPIP) grant to spearhead citizen-led traffic calming for Blake Street. That money will likely be put towards painting the Valley-Blake intersection in some way to encourage slower speeds and safer pedestrian traffic, she said. Several other pedestrians who regularly use the Whalley-Blake intersection said on Thursday that they hadn’t heard that a 57-year-old woman had been struck there the week before—but they have had their own negative experiences crossing there, even with the light. Several other pedestrians who regularly use the Whalley-Blake intersection said on Thursday that they hadn’t heard that a 57-year-old woman had been struck there the week before—but they have had their own negative experiences crossing there, even with the light. “Getting across there is very difficult,” said Central Avenue resident Cathy Jackson (pictured above). That’s because of how little time pedestrians have to cross. She said she frequently sees the public bus drop off passengers outside Lotta Studio. Those passengers then try to cut across the street soon after disembarking, and rarely have enough time to make it through without hustling. Sarah Connolly (pictured) said she was almost clipped by a bus not too long ago when she was crossing east on Whalley across Blake, and a bus turned without seeing her. She had to jump back on the curb. Sarah Connolly (pictured) said she was almost clipped by a bus not too long ago when she was crossing east on Whalley across Blake, and a bus turned without seeing her. She had to jump back on the curb. She looked up at the pedestrian signal flashing, and noted that the countdown only begins at 10. She said that if that number was a bit higher, perhaps the woman who was hit by the car last week would have had enough time to cross safely. “Maybe add eight seconds there and you’re good,” she said.

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posted by: ElmUrbanist on February 20, 2020 7:42pm A verbal warning. Unbelievable.

posted by: nero on February 20, 2020 7:42pm No one can condone the driver hitting a person using a walker, no matter how slowly she moves or how long ago the light has changed. Drivers need to be more mindful of their surroundings. But I take issue with the people insisting that traffic calming is the answer to New Haven’s safety problems. The goal should be not to calm traffic—it already takes 15 minutes for cars to inch through a 4-block stretch of Westville. How much slower can you strangle traffic? Traffic engineers might as well consider closing Whalley and turning it into a pedestrian mall. I’d genuinely prefer that to making it even more difficult to drive through Westville on Whalley. The answer is not traffic calming—it’s driver calming. Synchronize the traffic lights on the main thoroughfare of Whalley Avenue to 25mph and drivers, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians will all be safer with calm, predictable traffic flow. Now there are a host of bureaucrats that claim that synchronizing lights in New Haven is either impossible or will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. These people are misguided, ill-informed or simply lack the vision to change things for the better. The lights on Elm and Whalley can be synchronized at a reasonable price. The proof of this concept is current conditions. The more impediments installed in our major thoroughfares in the name of “traffic calming,” the more deaths, injuries and accidents we suffer. Drivers attraction spans shrink in crawling traffic and frustration rises causing people to make stupid mistakes. Who among us drives through Westville during rush hour—stopping for minutes at each of five traffic lights every few feet—and thinks that this is the right way to engineer traffic and it’s the best we can do? Let’s make this unfortunate pedestrian and unalert, poorly skilled driver the impetus for making a better, safer New Haven.

posted by: William Kurtz A verbal warning? Good one, The Onion. You almost had me going there. Wait, what? YOU AREN’T JOKING? Didn’t we just have the mayor, the chief of police, some alders, the state rep and about 50 area residents at a meeting about this kind of nonsense? Seriously—what is it going to take? This one is on goddam video with sound for crying out loud. It’s a miracle the victim wasn’t killed. Anyone who wants to pop up in the comments with some bullshit about how the driver had a green light and the pedestrian signal had run out can just sit right down. NHPD—do your jobs.

posted by: MemoryMan on February 20, 2020 7:50pm Hit a pedestrian: your vehicle gets impounded. No license? No insurance? You don’t get it back. And you do community service, and take rigorous classes with NHPD Officers Pedestrian jaywalking, crossing mid-stree: accident happens or no: big fine, attend street-crossing class with NHPD. Try draconian For awhile until people get the message NHV is serious about safe streets

posted by: budman on February 20, 2020 8:14pm With all the pedestrian deaths that have occurred in recent years, how the hell are we giving out warning tickets?? Smh

posted by: Pedro Soto on February 20, 2020 8:18pm While there are dozens of intersections that should have traffic calming installed (and this is one of them) this is a pretty clear case of road rage That the driver got off with a warning is a travesty. The driver likely played dumb and stated that they didn’t see the person but the video refutes that lrettt clearly. I think that this should be reviewed and the driver charged if at all possible. A few inches and this person would have been killed because of an a…. trying to prove a point.

posted by: mmrmike1 on February 20, 2020 8:31pm The reason behind a verbal warning versus a ticket is that if given a ticket the charges can be lowered or dismissed in court. A verbal warning can’t be changed thus giving this person more power in a civil case.

posted by: 1644 on February 20, 2020 8:58pm nero: Close Whalley? What is the alternate, safer route from downtown to Westville, Upper Westville, Woodbridge and Bethany? I drive through there frequently, and it is a choke point, but completely completely shutting rather than constricting traffic isn’t going to improve things. CT routes 63, 67 and 69 all converge at Westville. Moreover, from the other direction, there are only three major ways from Westville to downtown: Chapel, Edgewood, and Whalley, and while Edgewood does cross the park, it is very narrow in the Martin Street portion and never reaches the Green. Forcing those headed to upper Westville and points northwest to use Chapel would make speedways of connecting, residential streets like Alden, McKinley, etc.

Note: Making a traffic circle/roundabout where the Dunkin’ Donuts and Delany’s properties are might simplify the absurd sequence of “Y” junctions, but it would take land off the tax rolls.

posted by: ElmCityAle on February 20, 2020 9:39pm Unlike some of the incidents, the video shows the pedestrian was clearly in the crosswalk and started across when properly signaled. Given the vehicle started from a stop at the light around the corner, this is a different dynamic than concerns about vehicles speeding and can’t really be addressed with traffic design. It’s difficult to understand why the driver didn’t see the woman and I find myself wondering if a cellphone or other distraction was involved.

posted by: missthenighthawks on February 21, 2020 12:04am I’d have to agree with Pedro Soto. This driver intended to hit her walker because of road rage - how dare she not clear the intersection by the time the driver had a green light. Nothing else makes much sense. There’s a clear line of sight, no obstructions, and anyone starting out from stop would look to see where they’re going. The horn honking was essentially giving her the finger as he went past, and through her.

posted by: CityYankee on February 21, 2020 7:44am Dear NERO— you are right that it is the fault of the driver here and on the roads. If our addled drivers cannot sustain attention or focus long enough to drive safely on the roads; their licenses to drive should be suspended. Driving is a privilege; not a right. Obey the rules of the road or lose that privilege. I am sorry that the penalty was so light. Let the parking meter run out and it’s 20 bucks. Is a woman on a walker worth less?? Maybe the real issue is that when people know there is no consequence; they will do terrible, thoughtless things . Enforcing laws would go a long way in righting that misconception.

posted by: DKR314 on February 21, 2020 8:44am It is the job of the police to find fault based upon evidence and witness statements, per state statute. There are a lot of calls that the police respond to that often involve discretion. However, in this case a verbal warning…...WOW…!!! Definitely not the right call here, even though the operator of the vehicle was found at fault. A verbal warning is a mere slap on the wrist. Should’ve been issued an infraction and depending on the elements of the statute, a misdemeanor summons if warranted. Hope the pedestrian has a speedy recovery.

posted by: tmctague on February 21, 2020 9:43am Big delivery trucks, cops, Yale contractors, and rude people double park on Chapel street, clogging the entire street as people suddenly need to switch lanes. Other folks drive 5mph until they peter to a halt and attempt an impossible parallel park, leaving chaos in the rearview. If there were clearly designated delivery areas and times, specifically on Chapel, that’d be a huge help. I see the No Parking signs for delivery areas, but I rarely see them being used by anyone. I am usually revving my engine downtown because of the length of lights. If I get stuck at the red light at 360 State, I have to wait for a pedestrian cross walk, Chapel, turn only signal on State, and then I can resume driving a few minutes later. God forbid you get stuck at the insanely long Court St. light on State St., I admit it has driven me to turn right on red.

posted by: LookOut on February 21, 2020 9:52am If there are not real penalties, drivers will continue to speed, fail to yield, run red lights, and injure or kill pedestrians. Simple. Now the question is whether the city cares enough to do something about it.

posted by: paulwestville on February 21, 2020 10:05am There is one polite word I can use to describe the style of driving in New Haven - entitled. Having lived here for 23 years I have seen it go from bad to intolerable. Through the chronic and city-wide malfunctioning and improperly located traffic signals, the City has taught two generations of drivers to run the lights, lest they have to wait an eternity for them to change to green again. Motorists over-rely on the built in delay to clear the intersection. There should be no surprise that pedestrians are in harms way as they try to negotiate safe crossing. Until something is done to fix the lights, to have the walk signals user invoked rather than mindlessly included in the loop, step up enforcement efforts and apply substantial fines this behavior will continue and get worse.Time to fix the traffic management system once and for all - it will solve a lot of problems.

posted by: TheInternet on February 21, 2020 10:37am Not surprising to anyone who frequents this corner. Traffic infrastructure is the guilty party causing confusion and angst.

posted by: ADAK on February 21, 2020 11:32am This corner of Whalley and Blake should have an overhaul of the traffic and pedestrian safety concerns and right of way. I bet if I sat at that corner, I would see more than 50% of cars that don’t stop at a red light because it’s not a 4 way road intersection. Yet, most don’t realize someone may be crossing the road. Just this week I saw a cop car roll on through it. I’ve also seen another pedestrian get hit, that was not covered by the news as the pedestrian just wanted to go on with their day. Drivers are entitled for sure, especially in that part of the city. Drivers will continue to be until laws are enforced, or something is done about the infrastructure on that corner.

posted by: Chris246 on February 21, 2020 11:40am Good Morning, The driver who struck the woman with the walker got a verbal warning only. That course of action is a disgrace. The pedestrian was in a marked crosswalk. The pedestrian could h ave been badly injured or killed and a verbal warning is insufficient. Bad move. Good activity by the witnesses who assisted the victim more than the police department. Shameful. A Police Lieutenant is not a Top Cop. A police lieutenant is a middle manager in any police department. The Chief is the Top Cop in the City. And lastly why did you take a picture of Lt. Rosa in front of an abandoned home and a pile of garbage. That just looks bad.

posted by: HewNaven on February 21, 2020 12:07pm The pedestrian signal at this intersection is not looped, the button has to be pressed to activate the signal. The only ones that loop automatically are downtown I believe. Many already know this but some do not… if you are at the intersection of 2 roads, one must be considered the “main road” (e.g. Whalley). At most intersections in New Haven, like this one, if you press the button while the main road has a green light, the pedestrian signal will activate immediately at the end of that cycle. If you press the button while the secondary street has the green (e.g. Blake St.) you will have to wait as the lights cycle through on Whalley. So there is logic to the system, just may not be obvious right away. Meanwhile, we shouldn’t make excuses for drivers being impatient. That argument is a slippery slope in my opinion. The driver’s license requires you to act responsibly regardless of the circumstances. It doesn’t say, if the lights aren’t perfectly timed in your city, your entitled to act like a reckless asshole. This driver is still responsible. The verbal warning will remain on the record. The driver may be sued in civil court and may even lose their insurance.

posted by: Katherine on February 21, 2020 12:15pm The No Turn On Red sign at Valley and Blake is confusing. It’s lit up at the same times the green right turn arrow is also lit up.

posted by: mazbur on February 21, 2020 12:34pm The problem is the 1) width of Whalley intersections and 2) the brevity of the walk lights. When I was more disabled and could only walk slowly, I was nearly hit by a car racing up Whalley at the corner of Harrison; he was gunning it up the hill and hit the intersection just as it turned green, but I was not yet to the curb. The third component is the fact that you cannot start across the second the light says ‘walk’ as you have wait for cars trying to beat the light. Then, of course, there are those who barely slow down for a red/walk light because they don’t see any cars. I’m quicker now, but nearly got hit by such a driver crossing Valley on Blake toward Whalley; he just roared around that corner ,barely slowing down.

posted by: jWw_in_NH on February 21, 2020 12:42pm Another huge thank you to Thomas Breen for bringing to light absolutely terrible enforcement by NHPD. Chief Reyes is right to be shocked and concerned about how his officer dealt with this incident, and I will be part of the public demanding that the whole department - not just this officer - gets real about citing drivers who endanger the lives of people on the streets every day. Time to step up and publicize what you’re doing to change the egregious lack of action by officers across the city, starting with an apology and help for this woman and followed action against this driver and punishment for this officer.

posted by: CityYankee on February 21, 2020 12:45pm Please readers—do not try to excuse reckless driving by blaming the traffic light setup. PLEASE! Also- what happened to the 6 figure “study” of traffic lights from a couple of years ago? Whose pocket did that money end up in???

posted by: anonymous on February 21, 2020 1:02pm Injuries like this may seem minor at first, but complications from them frequently lead to death soon afterwards. I hope the woman recovers quickly. But if not, the driver should be sued for everything he/she/they own. In the meantime, the fault for this (and the 12 recent pedestrian deaths in New Haven) is also shared with the state and city’s engineering department and whoever else designed this dangerous intersection. These type of injuries are preventable if designers create streets that aren’t created to kill people. There is no reason the intersection needs to look the way it looks.

posted by: thecove on February 21, 2020 1:32pm Probably on their iPhone.

posted by: Heather C. on February 21, 2020 1:51pm Proof that the walk lights aren’t long enough for elderly and disabled people to wait for all the drivers who run the red light before they start to cross with the walklights, and then don’t have time to get across the walkway before the light changes and some idiot jump starts through the light. Proof that the design of New Haven’s streets isn’t designed for the safety of non-drivers. Proof that drivers only care about getting somewhere quickly, and they don’t care who they hit, as long as they can go fast. The main roads in neighborhoods need to be changed so they are not speedways in and out of the city. I don’t care if you find it inconvenient to be slowed down through a very small section of the length of Whalley Ave, you should be slowed down wherever there is an area of heavy pedestrian use of a street due to restaurants and shops, parks and schools, places of worship. And as many of you have mentioned, time and time again, the timing of stoplights need to be timed to coordinate from city limits to downtown a 25mph sequence, so traffic moves smoothly with less idling and less of a need to “beat the lights.” Longer walklights, raised crosswalks, better traffic calming measures in all residential and pedestrian heavy areas of the city. The penalties for running a light or hitting a pedestrian especially in a crosswalk needs to be so prohibitive that it deters this sort of behavior. And if you hit and run, like this driver did, you should lose your license. ENOUGH already! How many more people need to be injured or killed before the city and state take impactful

action to stop this?

posted by: HewNaven on February 21, 2020 2:59pm Can someone provide any evidence that synchronizing traffic lights, if possible, would actually mitigate congestion or (even more magically) eradicate road rage. All I’ve heard is the anecdotal: “Y’know last time I was in Manhattan in 1994, I hit 12 green lights in a row. And I felt swell that day.”

posted by: jules on February 21, 2020 10:51pm They tried to give HOW many randos a hundred dollar ticket for UHHH *checks notes* crossing the street at a diagonal at a crosswalk right before Christmas? & they gave this ABSOLUTE VIOLATOR a, what now? a verbal warning? like holy absolute crap. NYPD, what the ABSOLUTE hell is wrong with you? you’re seriously sleeping at night, letting little old ladies get straight up CREAMED in crosswalks? give us an actual break, you don’t have that much to do - & if you DO, you’re ignoring that too, to the communities’ additional detriment. the entire city spectrum is disgusted wIth you.

posted by: CityYankee on February 22, 2020 8:00am @ jules: I thank you for your verbal tirade. You speak for all of us appalled at the injustice of it all in this life.

posted by: Cove’d on February 22, 2020 2:56pm We need the Vulnerable User law applied all the time in things like this, need the Vulnerable User law fine/penalty to motorists increased, and ultimately need Strict Liability traffic laws (not to mention traffic calming and complete streets infrastructure) put in place particularly in cities, town centers, and neighborhoods.

https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2176&context=ealr

posted by: Pat from Westville on February 23, 2020 7:40pm “City transit chief Doug Hausladen said the light’s duration follows national signal plan standard recommendations: a seven second walk signal (the white walking symbol) followed by a 10 second flashing warning sign with a countdown clock.” So? Exactly what is this standard based on? How long it would take the average temporarily-able-bodied adult, say, Mr. Hausladen, to cross the street? If so, it’s totally unrealistic—there are so many of us for whom that is just not possible. Do you think we LIKE being so slow? Speaking for myself, I HATE how slow I walk, but it’s what I have to work with. And as someone else pointed out, no matter how many seconds you are granted, you just can’t step off the sidewalk the minute the little white pedestrian appears. At least the first 5 to 7 seconds are lost to those vehicles whose body language clearly indicates they plan to run the red light, no matter how far they are from the intersection when the light turns red. What is needed is a DRIVER education initiative on the rights of pedestrians crossing legally with a walk light, that even if the time expires before they’ve finished crossing they have the right to continue (it clearly says so on the sign attached to the pole where you punch the button to get the walk light). And some real consequences for such behavior that recklessly endangers another human being.