Pedestrian Crossing Time

DPT times crossing signals so that pedestrians need not move faster 2.5 feet per second.

So on our 82 foot wide streets, the pedestrian crossing signals must last at least 33 seconds. The signals along San Jose/Guerrero meet this standard.

2.5 feet/second—Too Fast for San Jose/Guerrero

Since we have a community-based, not-for-profit hospital and six schools along San Jose/Guerrero, we have an unusually slow-moving pedestrian population--because a disproportionately large part of the population is school age, in a wheelchair (perhaps temporarily during a hospital stay), pushing a stroller or pulling a dawdling child.

In addition, because there are often no curb cuts (despite federal law that requires them), people needing extra time to get off the curb (for instance, those in wheelchairs or with strollers) cannot make it all the way across San Jose/Guerrero. They must stop halfway across the street in the median, while cars race by on either side. Since our median is only four feet wide, wheelchairs and strollers are often too narrow to fit in such a small space. In fact, to be on the tiny median while cars speed by is daunting for anyone.