Pedestrian priority and safety at Sumach and Shuter

There has been a struggle between cars and pedestrians on this street since it was assembled in the car-oriented late 1950s. It seemed that we were more recently headed in the right direction with the recent rebuild and the reduction of the limit to 30km/h.

However, rather than find structural ways to force cars to slow to 30km/h such as a raised intersection or other modern pedestrian-focussed treatment, a traffic light was installed in the name of pedestrian safety. While it is mostly true that drivers will stop for a red light, the truth of the situation is that almost all traffic lights prioritize drivers and, at best, compel pedestrians to wait longer than a crosswalk.

In the first couple of days, the timing seemed at least tolerable, with a pedestrian cycle on every cycle. However, the Shuter street direction has been prioritized for drivers. Pedestrians must press a beg button to get a crossing at all, and then they must wait until the next time the cycle comes around.

Further, on measuring the timing again (I did it on day 2 as well), the crossing time for Shuter has been reduced to 20s from the initial almost 30s. If you are able-bodied, adult, and paying attention, that is enough time to safely cross the street. If you don’t tick all those boxes, you are at the mercy of drivers who tend to see a green light as a warrant to do whatever they please.

There is at least a leading pedestrian indicator, but given how pedestrian-hostile the rest of the implementation is, it is of marginal value.

What should happen next:

1. The crossing time must be returned to something closer to 30s
2. Crossing actuation must be addressed in a way that acknowledges and favours pedestrians. There are two acceptable options for this intersection without a complete rebuild (again):

option 1) Ensure that the cycle is complete on every iteration and not wait for actuation.

option 2) Make the "beg button" trigger an immediate cycle change. This is uncommon, but is implemented well in downtown Oakville. Any light timing arguments with adjacent lights are complete nonsense as this is a local street, not a regional road.

Requiring pedestrians to almost always wait at this intersection while drivers rarely have to is a complete inversion of what the reality in a residential neighbourhood should be.

This immediate area is a significant walking corridor for transit riders, park and athletic field users, seniors and schoolchildren. While I think we should look at Sumach as a pedestrian corridor from the Distillery to Wellesley, making at least this high pedestrian intersection safe and pleasant for people would be a good start. It is time that pedestrians be re-prioritized over drivers.