Intersection of Impending Death
So, the John St/Riddiford St/Adelaide Rd intersection has undergone a bit of a lights phasing tweak. It took this particular Wellingtonista by surprise when, last week, I confidently started to cross John St as the lights turned to red, only to discover that instead of my little green man, I was now the target for traffic coming down from Adelaide Rd.
There’s been some good that’s come from the change – the most obvious one being that pedestrians crossing John St (with the green man, that is), are no longer in danger of being skittled by right-turning traffic from Adelaide Rd heading up John St (it was a common trick for the first one or two cars in that queue to dive across the intersection as soon as the lights turned green).
On the other hand, pedestrians crossing at the same place now have to contend with traffic run the orange (or, even the red!) from Riddiford St and heading up John St. Every single morning I’ve had to cross at that point, cars have sailed through the intersection a good few seconds after the green man has gone off. It’s particularly bad if you’re crossing south-to-north, as the traffic is coming from behind you, out of your line of sight. It won’t be long before someone gets knocked over: mark my words!
How’s it working out for you? Drivers – any thoughts?