All over the city, the modern pictogram Walk/Don’t Walk signs, which were installed in 2004 and show a red hand for don’t walk and a white walking person for walk, thus making them understandable in every language, are reaching “the end of their 7-year life cycle,” according to a city official, and that’s why they’re malfunctioning and showing both pictures at the same time. The malfunctioning signs are so prevalent that City Councilwoman Gale Brewer’s office found seven in just a 20-block radius on the Upper West Side, including 81st Street and Columbus Avenue, where all four signs are broken. Even worse, the broken signs seem to correspond with more pedestrian injuries in those intersections. The Post report focuses on the Upper West Side, but anyone who’s been out of the house recently can testify that they’re everywhere. Maybe Bloomberg needs to get someone on this.
Upper West Side Crosswalks Contradict Themselves [NYP]
