Till Straube, 20 February 2024, "From intersection to interface: A measuring device", contributed by , STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 21 February 2024, accessed 8 May 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/intersection-interface-measuring-device
Critical Commentary
I always knew the intersection favored cars, giving them a much longer green light than pedestrians and bikers, that was very obvious. But for the first time today, I stepped off my bike and measured the difference. Here are the results:
Pedestrians get 8 seconds to cross. Cars get 68 seconds, that's over 8 times as much.
If pedestrians don't press the yellow button in time, which happens a lot, they have to wait even longer. I measured a "double" green light for cars at 150 seconds while pedestrians were waiting.
Stopping here and measuring felt good. This red light has annoyed me for years, and by subjecting it to my observing apparatus, I extracted myself from the frustrating situation and became a detached observer. I wonder what everybody else thought I was doing.