As previously suggested by a friend over here in Astana, and obviously moaned about by me most times I cross a road, the pedestrian crossings at traffic lights (that is to say those that have an automated timetable for when people can cross, as opposed to the newer variety, found away from crossroads, where you press a button) REALLY should be timed so that cars are NOT allowed to drive past at the same time as you cross. Granted, almost all the drivers do stop, or swerve to a different lane, but especially when icy conditions prevail, trying to cross a six lane road, knowing that cars could (literally) come spinning round the corner at any moment isn’t great.
Combine this with the fact that drivers waiting for their light to go green normally wait on top of the crossing that pedestrians use, and you can end up in some strange places at a four ways crossroad, just hoping you can get across in time. Obviously if Anna is with us, we pretty much don’t cross unless we have been waiting since before the green man is lit up, but other times, if it is just adults involved, you tend to cross when everyone else does, meaning some of the drivers turning right, whose lights have just turned red, are particularly impatient and want to get down the road quickly, before traffic from a different direction starts trying to cut them up, and effectively queue jump.
Apr 27 2010
Suggestions For Kazakhstan – Part VII
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