In message
, at
03:23:15 on Thu, 15 Jan 2009, MIG
remarked:
I believe one reason is that it encourages peds to look at the traffic.

That is the reason tptb quote.

Whatever the good intentions, I don't think it works that way. At
least with opposite side lights, pedestrians are looking towards the
road, and not down at something to their side.

With one-way streets, it's unpredictable which direction to look for the
side-lights, and they are very often obscured by other pedestrians
waiting. At least two generations of road user have been heavily
conditioned to look for the "green man" across the road (or worse, to
only stop if they see a *red* man across the road), and this new style
of crossing design simply beggars belief.
--
Roland Perry