I have heard and read in your Sunday paper about the poor woman Ernestine Mathis, that was run over by a truck and died. I know exactly what her problem is as I am also in a motorized scooter.
I know how difficult it is to get to the other side of the road in the time allowed. Even my wife crossing by foot barely makes it before the light changes.
I wish they would give a little more time for the crossing, before the light changes to green again. I put my scooter on high and just barely make it across in the time allowed. Please try to help us.
Herbert Geller
Mesa
sockratties posted at 8:48 am on Sat, Dec 15, 2012.
Timing is everything. If a pedestrian or scooter begins crossing just as the walk signal turns on, there is plenty of time. If they begin crossing just before the don't walk signal comes on, even though they technically have right-of-way, they'll be holding up traffic after the light has changed.
Assuming the scooter is functioning properly there should be no problem if they begin to cross as soon as the signal indicates it's time. Otherwise they should wait for the next signal.
It's pretty easy to determing how far it is across any given intersection, determine what the typical speed of a scooter is, then do the math to figure how long the signal has to be on to allow enough time to cross.
Scooters should be required to go a minimum speed and should have adequate visibility such as a tall flag and perhaps flashing LEDs, at least when interacting with cars and trucks
Accuracy posted at 11:59 am on Thu, Dec 13, 2012.
Street crossing signals do not give those on electric four-wheel scooters, wheelchairs, and walkers, enough time to cross six lanes at crosswalks of many intersections in the Valley.
According to Mesa police, a truck on the far lane (of the three lane side) struck and killed Ernestine Mathis in the crosswalk of the intersection at Main Street, Thursday morning, November 29th.
Mesa has installed some Walk/Don’t Walk signals that have countdown numbers visibly displayed. And they do give reasonably sufficient time to cross the streets at crosswalks. These pedestrian walk signals are visible for the pedestrians and the on-coming traffic.
Construction crews have completed new curb cuts, handicap-friendly ramps and warning strips, to improve and provide handicapped access on many street corners throughout Mesa.
Arizona Willie posted at 2:34 pm on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
Bluepoet, considering that the motorized scooter chairs are made by several companies, it would seem that merely changing the timing on the light would be much easier to accomplish than to get all the different scooter makers to make their machines go faster.
Plus, the batteries in those chairs can't power them too far. The further one gets from home I would think they would want to use as little juice as possible. It would not be fun to have a dead battery 3 miles from home. The faster they go the more it drains the limited little batteries.
Much easier to have stop light technicians change the timing on the lights than to redesign the scooters. And, that wouldn't help the millions of scooters already in service. They might be retro-fitted but at whose cost? Once again, much easier and cheaper to change the timing.
Bluepoet posted at 1:09 pm on Tue, Dec 11, 2012.
Perhaps it would help, if scooters were designed with street crossings in mind. It seems to me that a lot of them are really meant for indoor use, and transport, via van anywhere else. If they actually move faster than a normal walking person, then it's more a matter of timing the light, than it is extending the Walk sign. I have a friend who has a motorized wheelchair, and that thing can move fast enough to run her service dog!
One could advocate for changing all the street lights, or changing the tool, to fit the job...which is more likely and prudent?
Arizona Willie posted at 9:50 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Dale, there are multiple problems here.
Lengthening the time of the " walk " light to allow scooters to cross completely before the light changes WOULD help. At least it would give the scooter bound person enough time.
The other problem is speeding careless motorists. Those we have always had with us like mosquitos and Republicans.
It might well be a good idea to set the time on those lights to the time it takes the average scooter to cross the intersection plus a couple of seconds leeway.
It should be easily possible, technically, to have a button for the scooter bound to push that would cause the light to stay lit longer than normal to give them time to cross and, when there is no scooter crossing, revert to normal timing. Many intersections already have a button for pedestrians / scooters to push to get the light to change to allow them to cross.
A mild inconvenience to motorists, perhaps, but we are sitting in our heated / air conditioned cars while the scooter bound person is subjected to the elements.
Personally, it would scare the scrap out of me to have to ride one of those scooters down the street and especially to cross and intersection. Especially with Arizona drivers.
Dale Whiting posted at 3:29 am on Mon, Dec 10, 2012.
Herbert,
It is sad to know that those pedistrians entering the cross walk while the "walk" signal was still showing have the right of way even though the cross traffic signal may turn green. Our "in a hurry" Arizona motorists almost never look before they leap across the walk, some crusing up to the cross walk expecting the light to turn green as they enter. The motorist who killed Ernestine ought to be prosecuted for automobile homiside. But lengthening the duration of the pedestrian crossing signal is not going to solve this problem. Prosecution might help. Let's see what happens.