On 4 Nov, 13:50, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:18:22 on Wed,
4 Nov 2009, Peter Campbell Smith remarked:

To change the subject slightly, I see that (many? all?) new crossings have
the red and green man (person?) mounted at waist height at the side of the
road one is waiting at, rather than opposite. *I suppose we'll get used to
it, but I've already seen people:
- look across the road, see no light and assume that there isn't a
pedestrian phase, especially where there are others waiting and obscuring
the new-style light, and
- even more worryingly, look across the road (say south to north) and see
the green man for the pedestrians crossing east to west, which is aimed
directly south, and plunge across the road into the traffic.

These new crossings are a complete disaster, and should be banned
immediately.

If for no other reason than the red/green men are obscured as soon as
there is more than a couple of people waiting to cross.
--
Roland Perry

Oh god yes, it won't be a moment too soon when they are banned. They
seem to be universally despised, for good reason.

Another problem with many of them is that they are set a long way back
into the pavement and can't be seen at all from the position one
stands in waiting to cross the road. A good example is Theobalds Road
in London where you have to stand back almost against the wall,
blocking the pavement, to be able to see the lights.