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| WAIT! |
I am currently back in Aberdeen, and getting swiftly reacquainted with one of the city's most annoying phenomena: ridiculously brief pedestrian crossing times.
I am not especially young, but neither am I ancient. I am not especially fit, but neither am I horribly out of shape. I cross roads at an above-average pace.
1948 British government film on How To Cross Roads
However, at most pedestrian crossings in Aberdeen, I cannot get more than halfway across the road before the beeping ceases and the green man turns back to red. Given that I often have to stand at the side of the road for an eternity waiting for the green man to come on in the first place, it is most annoying.
The best crossing of all is one on George Street (at the junction with John Street, I think), which turns green for about 3 seconds, or 4 beeps, before switching straight back to red again.
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| A brief glimpse of green. |
My hypotheses for why Aberdeen's pedestrian crossings are so rubbish are these:
1. The council has carried out extensive surveys and discovered that the average Aberdonian pedestrian walks twice as fast as me.
2. The council has accidentally switched the settings on all its crossings to 78 rpm rather than 33 rpm.
3. The city is in thrall to the demands of the motor vehicle.
I suspect it is hypothesis 3, but 2 is entirely possible. I will also be interested to hear of other suggestions and theories.
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