They call them “semi-actuated type 2 pedestrian signals” and there’s one at the corner of Bayview Ave and Manor Rd. These SA2 signals require a pedestrian to push the button — that little yellow box known as the beg button — in order for the WALK sign to light up when the traffic signal turns green. If the button is not pressed, pedestrians are left looking at a green light for cars and a DON’T WALK signal for them. Why? One has to guess that the SA2 is intended to make traffic turns faster onto southbound Bayview if there are no pedestrians waiting. But on any day at Bayview and Manor/Fleming there are lots of pedestrians heading back and forth from Hollywood Gelato to Bayview Jug Milk. Many of them don’t get it. Lorna Krawchuk notes that the effect is the same down at McRae/Merton and Bayview where there is another SA2.
PEDESTRIANS THINK THE SIGNAL IS BROKEN
As the pedestrian website Walk Toronto says, pedestrians will think the system is broken and try to cross anyway. Walk Toronto calls these signals, of which there are hundreds in Toronto, frustrating and dangerous. Engineers are no doubt a boon to society but they have a way of assuming everybody else knows what they know. It’s called “I knew. How come you didn’t?” At another intersection in town, guerrilla sign makers have plastered the SA2 with a sign that explains how it is used. All of this is about how hospitable South Bayview might be for the many people who come to shop here.
15 SECONDS OF GREEN TO CROSS BAYVIEW
In recent months on a Saturday, The South Bayview Bulldog measured the allotted green-signal cross time from east to west at Manor Rd It is a skimpy 15 seconds. That’s really short if you’re trying to figure out why the walk sign didn’t come on. Walk Toronto says that a recent post by Spacing Toronto asked readers to identify intersections in the city where they thought SA2 signals should be replaced by signals where the walk sign always comes on with a green light. It says there were many responses reflecting the frustration pedestrians feel about this type of signal. Walk Toronto decided to send this crowdsourced list (cross-referenced with the city’s traffic signal inventory to make sure they are all SA2 signals) to City of Toronto Transportation Services with a request to review them and change them to the more pedestrian-friendly type of signal.
