To the Editor:
I have a new pet peeve, and it’s not trivial — in fact it could be life or death. It concerns the relatively new pedestrian crosswalk lights installed at key, busy Swarthmore intersections. They are not working as intended, and the answer is simple.
Worldwide, a yellow light signifies caution, slow down, while red means stop. Can anyone tell me why our pedestrian crosswalk lights flash yellow and not red? As a consequence, it’s typical for the first two to four cars to ignore the flashing yellow signal before cars stop on both sides of the light. People, it’s not rocket science: do not go against the conditioned human mind! Our minds are conditioned to interpret traffic control lights in a certain manner. Please make the lights flash red, not yellow. As it is now, you must follow Ronald Reagan’s iconic words, “Trust, but verify” before you cross, or risk tragedy.
Ken Derow
Swarthmore
