Question:
Please can you tell me which department is responsible for programming the pedestrian crossings in Cape Town city centre. I have noticed that all of the pedestrian crossings only allow pedestrians a time of 2.75 seconds to cross the road on a `green man` before it turns red. This does not allow sufficient time for able-bodied people to cross the roads safely, let alone people who have difficulty with mobility.
I would like to contact the person or persons who are responsible for programming and coordinating the traffic and pedestrian signals. They should allow more time to cross and install a count-down warning to let pedestrians know how much time they have left in which to cross the intersection safely.
Answer:
The CoCT thanks you for your report and responds as follows;
- The Green Man duration is set at 5 seconds across the entire Metropolitan Area. We will do some on-street checks to ensure that this green man duration is in fact being displayed.
- The Green Man is an indicator to the pedestrian that they may step off of the sidewalk.
- The duration of the Flashing Red Man is calculated using the road width as a parameter.
- When the Flashing Red Man is displayed, this is an indication to Pedestrians that they may no longer step off of the sidewalk. However, pedestrians having just stepped off the sidewalk, will have sufficient time to cross the street at normal walking speed.
Kind Regards