A Traffic Signal Perplexity

RantWoman's friend who got hit by a car 10 days ago is doing just phenomenally well. The exact details of this remarkable progress will be grist for other posts. RantWoman's friend still has a LONG way to go toward back to normal, but if she continues at current pace, she will be there faster than many might have imagined based on the details of her accident.

One touching side effect of this friend's injuries is that friend's family members have become quite conversationally protective about everyone and anyone where matters of crossing streets are involved. RantWoman actually does not quite know what to do with these sentiments. RantWoman really likes and even needs to go out and be mobile at all hours, in all weathers. RantWoman uses as much prudence, vigilance, and visibility enhancement as she can muster. Alas, if RantWoman spent too long focusing on all the accompanying dangers and severe annoyances, her life would just be too terrifying and RantWoman would be even more of an annoying person than she already is.

However, RantWoman is going to give one specific item its due. In addition to visiting friends on the trauma ward, RantWoman has work-related reasons to be coming and going from bus stops near Harborview. Thus, RantWoman has lately been forced to reflect on a traffic engineering perplexity: the city's reliance on a 4-way stop rather than a full traffic signal at the intersection closest to the entry to the ER / trauma unit.

Bear in mind there is substantial car traffic from all 4 directions at all hours of the day and night; some of that traffic really likes to turn right in front of paths to and front of one of the bus stops. There are ambulance and emergency vehicles. There are multiple bus routes with stops on 3 of the 4 sides of the intersection. There are pedestrians all over the place. There is another full traffic signal a block away with a red light camera which goes off so often at certain times that RantWoman recommends that people with any kind of photo-triggered seizure disorder avoid even looking in the direction of that corner.

RantWoman, uninitiated as she is into the full arcana of traffic engineering metrics and crash statistics, thinks the intersection closest to the trauma ward is exactly the sort of intersection that should be a prime location for a full traffic signal with walk lights, timing, the whole car and pedestrian traffic light package. RantWoman is fairly sure that long ago in the hoary mists of her time in Seattle that intersection once had a full traffic light. Then two different big construction projects occurred and the signal left behind is only a 4-way stop. RantWoman assuredly does not wish there to be lots and lots of crashes; she does find it perverse that this site is so conveniently located near the trauma ward if crashes do occur. Hence her perplexity!