Quite a valid point though. All our traffic lights are designed to make life as painless as possible for motorists at the expense of pedestrians.
Most crossings should change soon after a pedestrian has requested it, rather than making them wait 2 minutes in the burning sun.
blueishbeaver on
I would vote to install a human traffic controller at the Post Office on Queen Street for the efficiency and the whimsy.
shopping1972 on
I thought the call centre was 3403 8888
Hawksley88 on
If you can’t wait the 90 seconds it realistically takes you probably have bigger issues. Breathe in, enjoy the moment. Relax. Why is everyone in such a rush?
Lower_Concept1565 on
there’s some down sides like some unfunny pranksters could keep on pressing it to jam traffic
Business-Court-5072 on
Brisbane has the worst traffic lights
Zardous666 on
I hate it when I drive towards an intersection and I get stuck at a red for 5 minutes and there wasn’t even a fucking single car there for miles
Belmagick on
Brisbane is weirdly car centric. I used to walk everywhere when I lived more centrally and it was pretty common for pedestrian access to be completely blocked off on streets with no warning and no alternative.
Not sure if it counts as jay walking but I’d end up having to walk in the road with a barrier on one side and traffic on the other because there was no alternative.
discardedbubble on
I like the cut of this guys jib
2nd-Reddit-Account on
The whole reason most cities disable the button (atleast when it’s not the middle of the night) is because traffic sequencing is way more complicated than most people give it credit for.
Trying to clear traffic waiting at one intersection without it fucking the next 3 intersections in each direction is like trying to actively manipulate the butterfly effect on a city sized scale.
The people who create the cycle timings literally go to uni and do “traffic engineering” as a post grad unit after a civil engineering degree.
Unfortunately, pedestrians don’t exactly have traffic jams the same way cars do, so they end up lower on the priority list.
It’s not that council (or the state level transport department) are just inherently evil and hate pedestrians, it’s because pedestrians stuck waiting is largely consequence free, but stopping a 6 lane road because someone wants to cross RIGHT NOW can definitely stuff up more than just the intersection you’re standing at
KlikketyKat on
I’ve used pedestrian crossings where the ‘walk’ lights don’t come on at all unless you hit the button. I realised this after waiting through two whole traffic cycles without a chance to cross.
navtsi on
Love how the Brisbane City logo below looks like a big middle finger, possibly in response.
nedkellysdog on
That’s actually a brilliant idea…
Hilborn592 on
That bicycle lane on Edward St is poorly designed. It takes a cyclist 5 minutes to ride down there using the bicycle lanes and waiting at each intersection for the entire cycle of traffic lights.
However the traffic lights are timed so the motorist gets the “green wave” of lights in a row. Motorist can go down Edward Street in 38 seconds.
But oh! We support active travel! Says BCC. Like F*** you do.
nomorebeellionaires on
Not really, I think they just don’t like being a second class citizen because they are not in a car. The thing that kills thousands of people in Australia every year many of which are people standing and waiting at lights such as this.
Big-Dragonfruit-4306 on
In the Netherlands they don’t even use beg buttons. The intersection uses sensors or something to see you coming and switches to cross before you even get there. If it’s good enough for other, better cities then why not Brisbane? Brisbane road infrastructure (not to mention drivers) is actively hostile to pedestrians currently. It’s fucked.
stinkygeesestink on
It would be nice if the intersection could at least determine that no car has come through for a good amount of time. It’s annoying when you’re waiting for nothing. I’ve crossed sandgate road to toombul station and been stuck waiting for nothing for 2 minutes.
_a_m_s_m on
I saw of those today as well!
I get it though, it sucks donkey balls having to wait 5-10 minutes to travel, what? how long is a crossing at most 20 meters?
Sarahlump on
Is anything there incorrect?
guseyk on
The sticker is right
john2095 on
Brisbane Metropolitan Transport Management Centre (BMTMC) determines the sequencing of the lights and, on some intersections, can even alter the sequencing in real time (for accidents/protests/sporting events for example). To influence the priorities you probably need to be heard by all three entities:
* Brisbane Metropolitan Transport Management Centre
* Department of Transport and Main Roads
* Brisbane City Council
Good luck.
The Dutch seem to have it all sorted with their change-on-detection systems. We have the technology I’m sure we could build something which would change the lights according to what is coming/waiting.
Personally, it drives me nuts when, we sit at a red light with nothing going through the intersection. Then, just as something arrives to go through, the lights will change.
jordyjordy1111 on
There were times back when I was working in an office that I actually got annoyed when the light changed to quickly after I pressed the button. I was not at all in a hurry to get back to work.
Majestic_Original_47 on
Would be great if we could replace on street parking with extra-wide sidewalks. Trouble is, there’s money to be made with on street parking.
subtropicalennui on
The one that really shits me is the five way at Ann St/Skyring. You’re lucky to get across Ann St in one go.
Transientmind on
Something I’ve noticed in Brisbane for DECADES is that at some intersections, the lights only change for pedestrians when you push the button… but if there are no cars around for fucking miles, you literally can’t see any, the lights could change immediately and no-one would be slowed down… but no. The lights WAIT until there’s a car approaching that they can turn red for. It’s kinda fucking sadistic to be able to turn at any time but wait until it fucking inconveniences someone.
sunflower-saga on
I feel like waiting for ages in the cbd is not too bad if it’s a diagonal crossing, but if it isn’t the wait should be shorter.
grismar-net on
The Brisbane pedestrian infrastructure is just as good as I remember it being in the Netherlands. In the 1980s.
pexxu95 on
This isn’t advocacy for either viewpoint, but years ago I worked in traffic staging for multi-stage construction.
It’s not really a “cars vs people” angle, it’s all about overall efficiency. It’s far more grey, impersonal and boring than most would like to imagine.
It’s not very exciting but old cities with large population influx are a nightmare and the cost to fix it makes politicians quiver. It’s pretty sad that there is no generational thought and only election cycle style thinking when it comes to solving our major civil infrastructure issues.
HairyGoanna on
HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!
Aaah, that’s a good one.
… are they new to the city? 🤣
unwalkable_Brisbane on
Yessssss.
W4YN0 on
When I was studying electronics, one of the guys joked to go around to all the traffic lights and reprogram them, so that the more you pushed the button, the longer it would take for the walk signal to activate.
I also miss the days where once you pressed the button, it would light up to say it’s acknowledge the request to cross and save every other person coming up and pushing the button afterwards.
Murky_Ambassador2418 on
I embrace the diversity of all the colours of the signals and will walk through all of them.
dorcus_malorcus on
there is a crossing in stanley street that goes green right after you press it. i think it was installed purely for pedestrian safety on a very busy road.
it’s so good and feels wierd after being conditioned to wait for cars at most of them.
LongjumpingCellist35 on
Overly simplistic comments here.
Imagine if even half the intersections in the cbd had signals triggered instantly by.pedestrians. it would be chaos. Cars would never move, might as well make it a grid of a malls.
The lights, to an extent work as a network so that cars dont queue through intersections.
Ann St and Skyring is a major way in/out of the city for motorists- and skyring was a very recent addition. The only solution would have been a magical pedestrian bridge there.
Visual_Doughnut_2422 on
I, too, dislike the Beg Button wait times.
AliceLi_HK on
Jaywalking might be the most victimless crime I guess
pndjk on
They call these “beg buttons” for a reason. it’s car-centric as hell
Mountain_Schedule_40 on
Yeah let’s stick stickers on a pole. That’s gonna show them!
AstronautNumberOne on
Yeah. It’s pretty annoying, particularly when you find out in other countries it’s a lot better for pedestrians. The one thing that really annoys me is when I’m trying to cross a busy intersection. I’ve got to cross three different ways instead of just crossing the closest way.
TKinAUS on
You can’t make a button that allows you to “cross now”. Just think of all the idiots that would just press it to screw with traffic. From my understanding, the only thing the button does is give you a couple more seconds to cross the road.
DaveySmith2319 on
Wow, as someone from a more regional town, I thought Brisbane’s pedestrian crossings were phenomenal. They changed so fast and stayed green for so long compared to what I was used to. Crazy to see so many here think it’s car centric.
Jesus1300655506 on
Lowkey valid tho
Flakentim on
I’m going to print some of these for Cairns
Next-Database-8581 on
You would not have massive amounts of people at lights if you did not have the stupid Jaywalk rule. Forcing people to cross at lights.
If you want more people walking or take public transport then people should have priority.
I come from South Africa, and we don’t have Jaywalking rules. Road rule is simple,
If you drive a vehicle of any kind, and you bump into anything, YOU are responsible and will be charged, regardless if you had right of way.
Basically it requires the person who drives something that can damage or hurt people to the conditions of the road, regardless of speed limit and regardless of right of way. But Australians seem conditioned that if you drive you own the road, you don’t, it is a shared path. Take some responsibility.
Peds should NOT be harassed by police if crossing was safe ie, no incoming cars for several meters, regardless or where a light is.
Certainly give a ticket if they put themselves or others in danger.
spatchi14 on
I used to hate walking from central to QUT. So much time wasted at traffic lights.
nightcana on
So… waiting 30 seconds is too long?
Lucytheblack on
I have counted the amount of time I wait. As a pedestrian, and as a motorist. I’m almost always surprised at how short a time it actually is. A minute seems like it’s forever.
I wonder if they are the sort of person that pushes the button multiple times very quickly. With great vigour.
48 Comments
Quite a valid point though. All our traffic lights are designed to make life as painless as possible for motorists at the expense of pedestrians.
Most crossings should change soon after a pedestrian has requested it, rather than making them wait 2 minutes in the burning sun.
I would vote to install a human traffic controller at the Post Office on Queen Street for the efficiency and the whimsy.
I thought the call centre was 3403 8888
If you can’t wait the 90 seconds it realistically takes you probably have bigger issues. Breathe in, enjoy the moment. Relax. Why is everyone in such a rush?
there’s some down sides like some unfunny pranksters could keep on pressing it to jam traffic
Brisbane has the worst traffic lights
I hate it when I drive towards an intersection and I get stuck at a red for 5 minutes and there wasn’t even a fucking single car there for miles
Brisbane is weirdly car centric. I used to walk everywhere when I lived more centrally and it was pretty common for pedestrian access to be completely blocked off on streets with no warning and no alternative.
Not sure if it counts as jay walking but I’d end up having to walk in the road with a barrier on one side and traffic on the other because there was no alternative.
I like the cut of this guys jib
The whole reason most cities disable the button (atleast when it’s not the middle of the night) is because traffic sequencing is way more complicated than most people give it credit for.
Trying to clear traffic waiting at one intersection without it fucking the next 3 intersections in each direction is like trying to actively manipulate the butterfly effect on a city sized scale.
The people who create the cycle timings literally go to uni and do “traffic engineering” as a post grad unit after a civil engineering degree.
Unfortunately, pedestrians don’t exactly have traffic jams the same way cars do, so they end up lower on the priority list.
It’s not that council (or the state level transport department) are just inherently evil and hate pedestrians, it’s because pedestrians stuck waiting is largely consequence free, but stopping a 6 lane road because someone wants to cross RIGHT NOW can definitely stuff up more than just the intersection you’re standing at
I’ve used pedestrian crossings where the ‘walk’ lights don’t come on at all unless you hit the button. I realised this after waiting through two whole traffic cycles without a chance to cross.
Love how the Brisbane City logo below looks like a big middle finger, possibly in response.
That’s actually a brilliant idea…
That bicycle lane on Edward St is poorly designed. It takes a cyclist 5 minutes to ride down there using the bicycle lanes and waiting at each intersection for the entire cycle of traffic lights.
However the traffic lights are timed so the motorist gets the “green wave” of lights in a row. Motorist can go down Edward Street in 38 seconds.
But oh! We support active travel! Says BCC. Like F*** you do.
Not really, I think they just don’t like being a second class citizen because they are not in a car. The thing that kills thousands of people in Australia every year many of which are people standing and waiting at lights such as this.
In the Netherlands they don’t even use beg buttons. The intersection uses sensors or something to see you coming and switches to cross before you even get there. If it’s good enough for other, better cities then why not Brisbane? Brisbane road infrastructure (not to mention drivers) is actively hostile to pedestrians currently. It’s fucked.
It would be nice if the intersection could at least determine that no car has come through for a good amount of time. It’s annoying when you’re waiting for nothing. I’ve crossed sandgate road to toombul station and been stuck waiting for nothing for 2 minutes.
I saw of those today as well!
I get it though, it sucks donkey balls having to wait 5-10 minutes to travel, what? how long is a crossing at most 20 meters?
Is anything there incorrect?
The sticker is right
Brisbane Metropolitan Transport Management Centre (BMTMC) determines the sequencing of the lights and, on some intersections, can even alter the sequencing in real time (for accidents/protests/sporting events for example). To influence the priorities you probably need to be heard by all three entities:
* Brisbane Metropolitan Transport Management Centre
* Department of Transport and Main Roads
* Brisbane City Council
Good luck.
The Dutch seem to have it all sorted with their change-on-detection systems. We have the technology I’m sure we could build something which would change the lights according to what is coming/waiting.
Personally, it drives me nuts when, we sit at a red light with nothing going through the intersection. Then, just as something arrives to go through, the lights will change.
There were times back when I was working in an office that I actually got annoyed when the light changed to quickly after I pressed the button. I was not at all in a hurry to get back to work.
Would be great if we could replace on street parking with extra-wide sidewalks. Trouble is, there’s money to be made with on street parking.
The one that really shits me is the five way at Ann St/Skyring. You’re lucky to get across Ann St in one go.
Something I’ve noticed in Brisbane for DECADES is that at some intersections, the lights only change for pedestrians when you push the button… but if there are no cars around for fucking miles, you literally can’t see any, the lights could change immediately and no-one would be slowed down… but no. The lights WAIT until there’s a car approaching that they can turn red for. It’s kinda fucking sadistic to be able to turn at any time but wait until it fucking inconveniences someone.
I feel like waiting for ages in the cbd is not too bad if it’s a diagonal crossing, but if it isn’t the wait should be shorter.
The Brisbane pedestrian infrastructure is just as good as I remember it being in the Netherlands. In the 1980s.
This isn’t advocacy for either viewpoint, but years ago I worked in traffic staging for multi-stage construction.
It’s not really a “cars vs people” angle, it’s all about overall efficiency. It’s far more grey, impersonal and boring than most would like to imagine.
It’s not very exciting but old cities with large population influx are a nightmare and the cost to fix it makes politicians quiver. It’s pretty sad that there is no generational thought and only election cycle style thinking when it comes to solving our major civil infrastructure issues.
HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!
Aaah, that’s a good one.
… are they new to the city? 🤣
Yessssss.
When I was studying electronics, one of the guys joked to go around to all the traffic lights and reprogram them, so that the more you pushed the button, the longer it would take for the walk signal to activate.
I also miss the days where once you pressed the button, it would light up to say it’s acknowledge the request to cross and save every other person coming up and pushing the button afterwards.
I embrace the diversity of all the colours of the signals and will walk through all of them.
there is a crossing in stanley street that goes green right after you press it. i think it was installed purely for pedestrian safety on a very busy road.
it’s so good and feels wierd after being conditioned to wait for cars at most of them.
Overly simplistic comments here.
Imagine if even half the intersections in the cbd had signals triggered instantly by.pedestrians. it would be chaos. Cars would never move, might as well make it a grid of a malls.
The lights, to an extent work as a network so that cars dont queue through intersections.
Ann St and Skyring is a major way in/out of the city for motorists- and skyring was a very recent addition. The only solution would have been a magical pedestrian bridge there.
I, too, dislike the Beg Button wait times.
Jaywalking might be the most victimless crime I guess
They call these “beg buttons” for a reason. it’s car-centric as hell
Yeah let’s stick stickers on a pole. That’s gonna show them!
Yeah. It’s pretty annoying, particularly when you find out in other countries it’s a lot better for pedestrians. The one thing that really annoys me is when I’m trying to cross a busy intersection. I’ve got to cross three different ways instead of just crossing the closest way.
You can’t make a button that allows you to “cross now”. Just think of all the idiots that would just press it to screw with traffic. From my understanding, the only thing the button does is give you a couple more seconds to cross the road.
Wow, as someone from a more regional town, I thought Brisbane’s pedestrian crossings were phenomenal. They changed so fast and stayed green for so long compared to what I was used to. Crazy to see so many here think it’s car centric.
Lowkey valid tho
I’m going to print some of these for Cairns
You would not have massive amounts of people at lights if you did not have the stupid Jaywalk rule. Forcing people to cross at lights.
If you want more people walking or take public transport then people should have priority.
I come from South Africa, and we don’t have Jaywalking rules. Road rule is simple,
If you drive a vehicle of any kind, and you bump into anything, YOU are responsible and will be charged, regardless if you had right of way.
Basically it requires the person who drives something that can damage or hurt people to the conditions of the road, regardless of speed limit and regardless of right of way. But Australians seem conditioned that if you drive you own the road, you don’t, it is a shared path. Take some responsibility.
Peds should NOT be harassed by police if crossing was safe ie, no incoming cars for several meters, regardless or where a light is.
Certainly give a ticket if they put themselves or others in danger.
I used to hate walking from central to QUT. So much time wasted at traffic lights.
So… waiting 30 seconds is too long?
I have counted the amount of time I wait. As a pedestrian, and as a motorist. I’m almost always surprised at how short a time it actually is. A minute seems like it’s forever.
I wonder if they are the sort of person that pushes the button multiple times very quickly. With great vigour.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/s/V9gThQJqRz