The way cars and people are treated.
My goodness, either I’ve become too accustomed to BCN, or things have gotten crazier in the Bay Area, but damn… In the Bay Area pedestrians are second-class citizens. No wonder folks don’t walk more.
How did I come to this conclusion you ask… Take these examples into consideration:
- In order to cross a street, a pedestrian MUST actively press a button. Do cars press a button to cross the street? No.
- When cars stop-look-turn-right (as it is legal in CA), they only look for on-coming traffic. They do not look for pedestrians, even though most likely the reason those cars are stopped, is because traffic is flowing perpendicular to them and therefore pedestrians probably have the right of way.
- If there is a race-situation, where a set of cars are making a left turn and the pedestrian light switches to give pedestrian the right of way, the cars, as they are making their left turn do not stop, they simply keep going, even though the pedestrian has the right of way.
I know as Americans, most will reply with “yes, and this allows for better traffic flow”. My answer is sure, and therefore this allows for LESS walking flow.
And you cannot have your cake and eat it too.