[sologoub]

Like others have already pointed out, the light was green and it simply indicated that you shouldn't start crossing because there is a countdown going. The countdown helps you see if you can make it. If there are 2 seconds left and you need to cross 4 lanes, you are not making it. If there are 30 seconds left and you need to cross 2 lanes, and you can walk at a brisk pace, doesn't sound that unsafe to me...

That said, the reason they want to crack down on that is they are treating these as gaps for cars to turn (mostly right), instead of heaving either a separate arrow for turning or changing the pedestrian light behavior to allow for a non-flashing red. Basically, instead of spending money to promote public health, they are "taxing" the public through citations.

There are similar examples of these tactics with cars as well. Remember, LA has a serious budget problem: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/18/local/la-me-ln-posit...

The positive news from that article is that they are "only" expecting to be lose "between $153 million and $242 million"...