Pedestrian Scramble - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

The pedestrian scramble, since it stops all motor vehicles rather than allowing partial vehicle movements to coexist with partial pedestrian movements, has sometimes been seen as inefficient by traffic engineers, and their removal supported as creating big savings in delays and congestion. In some countries this has led to a removal of at least individual installations. However, critics have dismissed these moves as further subordinating pedestrians to cars, and who consider the shared turns of motor vehicles and pedestrians as unnecessarily intimidating.

The pedestrian scramble only makes sense where large numbers of pedestrians are expected, and where they will also have enough space to gather on the sidewalks in larger numbers. Under certain circumstances, pedestrian scrambles could decrease safety, as the average waiting times for pedestrians and car drivers are increased, thus creating more likelihood of people disobeying the signals.