Some traffic signals in New West are being reprogrammed in response to concerns about the transmission of COVID-19.
In recent weeks, some community members have voiced concerns about pedestrians’ potential exposure to COVID-19 because of the need to press buttons at crosswalks.
Jim Lowrie, the city’s director of engineering, said that most of the city’s traffic signals are actuated by the presence of pedestrians, cyclists and automobiles, which is similar to other jurisdictions.
“During the current COVID-19 pandemic, and consistent with other Metro Vancouver municipalities, city staff will be reprogramming a number of traffic signals to a fixed time cycle and installing signage to indicate that it is not necessary to press a button to activate the signal,” Lowrie said. “The necessary technical work is nearing completion, and staff anticipates making these changes in the city’s downtown and uptown neighbourhoods next week. This will be followed by changes to signal operations on East Columbia Street/Royal Avenue and locations on greenways and bus routes where higher numbers of pedestrians and cyclists are expected.”
According to Lowrie, pedestrian-only signals (those that default to flashing green for motorists) can also be programmed to change automatically whether pedestrians are present or not.
“However, this change may introduce unintended consequences such as motorists shortcutting through neighbourhoods and increased non-compliance related to motorists ignoring the red signal,” he said. “The public is reminded that traffic signal push buttons do not require the use of a bare hand or finger to activate the signal; a gloved hand, sleeved elbow or the use of an inanimate object can also be used.”
