[flurp]

Maybe the problem is the length of countdown timers? I don't know how they are determined and set but anecdotally I often see 10 seconds or sometimes others in excess of 15s or even 20s on a road that takes ~5s to cross.

It seems to me like this is a reasonable law IF the timers were set to only give the pedestrians minimal amount of time to cross the street. Given it takes 5s to cross, timer starts with 5 remaining. Pedestrians in the road see it and rush to either side. Pedestrians about to enter the road will have an easier decision to make: I can't make it in 5s so I wait. Obviously some will think they can, then fine them; I think that's reasonable. But holding up pedestrians with 20s remaining seems unreasonable to me.

The main problem I see is for slower pedestrians; seniors, handicapped etc. They might need more time and could be caught of guard in the middle of the street with no time remaining... An immediate thought would be a white flashing hand as a warning that time is running low (no counter!)... Probably requires lots of reprogramming though.

[hijiri]

It might just be that the car traffic signals are patterned to last that long, so the pedestrian crossing signals are the same length to match. But that would depend on the crosswalk.

[iopq]

I can make it in 5 seconds, some grandma can't. Shouldn't it be based on your speed, not the timer?