Word Spy - pedestrian scramble

pedestrian scramble

n. A traffic light and crosswalk system that stops cars in all four directions so that pedestrians can cross the intersection in any direction.

Example Citations:

Before the morning rush hour, city workers will remove coverings from new pedestrian crossing signals and unveil Toronto's first experimental "pedestrian scramble" intersection, a traffic-light configuration that stops cars in all directions with a red light to allow pedestrians to cross in all directions, even diagonally.
—Jeff Gray, "City gives green light for 'pedestrian scramble'," The Globe and Mail, August 28, 2008

The intersection in question is at Mountain Boulevard at La Salle Avenue, which now has a four-way stop sign. That's where the stoplight is targeted for installation — the first stoplight ever inside the village.

Derek Liecty, a Montclair resident, is spearheading the fight to block the stoplight. He is convinced that it, along with a proposed pedestrian scramble crossing system, will create more problems than it will solve.
—Dave Newhouse, "He's working to stop a stoplight," Contra Costa Times, February 22, 2008

Earliest Citation:

"I used to work downtown," says Adair, a Seattle resident, "and I really do like it (the right to cross diagonally)."

So do hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pedestrians who use the so-called pedestrian scramble system daily at First and Pike, near the Pike Place Market.

The scrambles — which permit pedestrians to walk every which way when the "walk" light is on — also are in operation at the Beacon Hill Junction, at Beacon Avenue South and 15th Avenue South, and at the West Seattle Junction, at California Avenue Southwest and Southwest Alaska Street.
—Don Duncan, "'Scramble' crosswalks seen as mixed blessing," The Seattle Times, October 16, 1989

Categories:

Cars
Other Transportation

Posted on August 28, 2008