HAWK Beacon Signal

There's a new kind of crosswalk in town. Learn about Tempe's newest traffic signal and find out how the High-intensity Activated Crosswalk, or H.A.W.K., is making it easier to cross the road.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Tempe
• Arizona
• Tempe 11
• H.A.W.K.
• hawk signal
• crosswalk
• Western Canal Path
• multi-use path
• beacon

[altopics]

It looks like the uk level crossing thing

[pups7685]

Firstly its clearly red secondly i would be so confused if i saw this

[liamlunchtray]

Terrible. Traffic lights are standardized for a reason – So you know wtf to do. I’m a car nerd, and a fan of urban issues, but if I came up to this I would have no idea what to do or expect. I would associate the toggling red to mean STOP like at a railroad crossing – I wouldn’t interpret it as a standard flashing red like a stop sign. What is the purpose of this over just having a standard traffic light that is green all the time unless someone presses the button?

[NeoFalcon69]

Great idea - I don't know how well it would work here in New Zealand - flashing red lights are usually ONLY reserved for train crossings - if we had that here and the flashing red lights meant "go if safe" I bet we'll have idiots here would apply the same rule to flashing red lights at train crossings.

I would suggest they use flashing orange ones instead of the red like they do in the UK on some of their crossings to indicate the same thing.

[OfficerNelson]

@Ryoukun16 Sorry once again, but I have never seen a stop sign with a wig-wag flasher.

[Ryoukun16]

@OfficerNelson Oh yeah, and learn how not to be an ass.

[Ryoukun16]

@OfficerNelson It turns out you need some common sense as you have to remember most 4-way stop signals had the red flash.

[OfficerNelson]

@Ryoukun16 If you don't have proof otherwise, you can't argue with common sense. Sorry.

[Ryoukun16]

@OfficerNelson Ok, seriously, I was about to reply, but seeing how arrogant you typed it, I think not. Come back to me VIA PM once you figure it out, then I'll be more than happy to explain.

[OfficerNelson]

@Ryoukun16 How? Are you a traffic engineer? Do you have some sort of proof that motorists interpret wig-wag red ball signals as "stop then go when it's safe" moreso than your typical flashing red, taught in most states to be "stop then go when it's safe"? Even a regular R/Y/G signal would be better.