Montreal City Weblog

Kate 08:00 on 2018-12-19 Permalink Reply  

• Clément 08:33 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  Please, no. They have those in Quebec city and they’re a nightmare. Pedestrians always have to ask for the light and we always have to wait at least a full “car-cycle” before getting ours. And in the name of making sure cars have ultimate ease of movement, pedestrians only get 20 seconds to cross.
  The result is more jaywalking and more disrespect between cars and pedestrians.

• Tim S. 08:53 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  There’s a few of those in NDG and Westmount, and as long as it’s timed so that pedestrians get the same time to cross as cars, and it comes predictably and automatically it works quite well. I actually go out of my way to make sure I cross at those intersections.

• boblerebob 09:14 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  Super horrible à Québec, ces feux. Ça prend une éternité se déplacer en ville. Le vrai but de ses lumières est de laisser le cycle normal à 100% aux automobilistes, suivi de quelques misérables secondes aux piétons… S’ils ont pesé sur un bouton pressoir avant, histoire de leur nuire encore plus. «Ensemble Montréal» se positionne de plus en plus comme le parti du «char», anti-piétons, anti-vélos.

• Nick 09:47 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  “Pedestrian only” is fine if it is done right. In Montreal we have a few places where the “white man” coincides with red lights all round (perhaps mostly in Vieux-Montreal, e.g. corner of St-Laurent and Notre-Dame, corner of St-Antoine and St-Urbain, the corner of St-Jacques and Square-Victoria, etc.)
  In Britain and France they have had them (green person rather than white, whilst cars are on red) for as long as I can remember (so about 40 years), and whenever a European comes to North America for the first time and sees that humans are supposed to move into an intersection at the same time as cars (on a green), Europeans think “WTF, this whole continent is insane”. It is that — forcing pedestrians to walk when cars are also on green — which is the emblem of a culture built around cars, surely.

• jeather 11:30 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  Yeah, if they’re done well, it’s fine. But I mostly see them in Quebec City, where they are completely terrible (and where I know a lot of people who’ve been ticketed for jaywalking), so I’m generally against them because of this experience and because I don’t trust the city to do them any better.

  I think there are some in NDG that my friend say work well as a pedestrian. I gather they are in fact safer for pedestrians as long as the waits aren’t too long. In particular I could see them being great on Ste-Catherine, a LONG pedestrian phase and two reasonable length but not long car phases so that when cars do want to turn, they can.

• dwgs 11:30 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  The intersection of Ste Catherine and University has been like that for the better part of a year now and the main difference seems to be that now there are often cops there writing many jaywalking tickets to those who cross with the cars’ green light rather than on the walk signal.

• jeather 11:49 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  I think if there’s just one intersection that does it, it doesn’t work for helping traffic — I didn’t even know we had it there. And ALSO you should be allowed to cross with the cars on the west side of the intersection if you’re crossing Ste-Catherine and the north or south side for the other one way streets.

• Kevin 12:34 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  Many of the deadly crashes we have come as pedestrians are crossing a street while a driver turns, and they both have a green light.

  Separate crossing periods seems to be the simplest way to prevent this kind of tragedy.

• Mr.Chinaski 12:36 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  Il y a un feu de circulation pour piétons à Verdun, sur le bord de l’eau (Boul. Lasalle à l’ouest de Woodland. Il sera enlevé d’ici peu car il n’aide personne, il a causé plus de problèmes que d’en résoudre. 1) Vu le faible nombre de piéton, il est souvent ignoré par les automobilistes et 2) Vu la crainte des piétons, il est activé par peu de gens.

• Blork 13:56 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  This could potentially work well for SOME intersections, but not for all. Generally, smaller and less complicated intersections (such as the previously mentioned Ste-Catherine and Robert-Bourassa) are ideal, especially if the pedestrian cycle happens predictably and does not require pushing a button. (Note that this intersection is “simple” because it is the intersection of two one-way streets, so there are no complications with regard to car traffic.)

  However, it could be a nightmare at a large intersection, such as René-Lévesque and Robert-Bourassa, where there are many lanes going in all directions. An intersection like that requires several different cycles just for the cars (N/S straight through only, N/S straight-through and right turn, N/S left-turn only, E/W straight through only, E/W straight-through and right turn, E/W left-turn only), which means it would be an eternity before it gets around to the four-way pedestrian-only cycle. As a result, people will jaywalk.

  So it’s a matter of adopting different solutions for different intersections.

• jaddle 13:56 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  There are many of these in Westmount. Mostly, they work well, though it’s amazing how many people get confused about them and cross when they aren’t supposed to. They aren’t impatient – they just really don’t get it! None of the intersections take too long to get to a walk light, and I think generally they’re fine, though it is annoying at one-way streets when you aren’t allowed to cross for no reason at all. For example, Ste-Catherine and Greene, when the light is green for East-West traffic, and red for North-South. It’s a south-only street, so there’s no way for anyone to drive north. Why not allow pedestrians? They actually do just that at Lansdowne and Sherbrooke.

• Phil M 17:25 on 2018-12-19 Permalink

  I am fully in favour of pedestrian-only light phases. When respected, they make movement easier for both pedestrians and motorists. The real problem is that Montreal, in particular, has a really bad culture of “selfish” road behaviour, on both sides. Particularly downtown, it’s nearly impossible for cars to turn at intersections, because pedestrians do not respect the lights at all. It leads to backed-up traffic, and frustrated, angry drivers, who are more likely to act rashly.

  I was recently in the former Yugoslav countries where *everyone* respects the rules of the road. No speeding, no jay-walking. None. I got very dirty looks when jay-walking, even with absolutely no cars coming. Or take Tokyo, where you have millions more people and cars then Montreal, yet everything runs smoothly, efficiently, and safely.

  But it’s not enough for the city to just start implementing “all red” lights without properly educating all road users about the new rules, and proper respect for fellow road users. And it can’t just be a few cops at the corners handing out tickets, though that would be required. Changing a culture of disrespect is a long process, and as a “proud Montrealer” almost goes against my very core, but if I can recognize the need for a more civilized sharing of public space, anyone can.

  I really hate to say it, but maybe it’s time Montreal started acting a little more like Toronto… *shudder*

• DeWolf 15:32 on 2018-12-20 Permalink

  I was just in Tokyo and everything works smoothly because proportionately to the population, there are *very* few vehicles on the road. It’s a lesson in how even a metropolitan area of 37 million people can be pleasant and manageable if the vast majority of those people get around by train/bicycle/foot.