An excercise in futility?

After pressing the crosswalk button at the corner of Merrimack and Chestnut streets recently, I was waiting patiently for permission to walk. As I was waiting, a man who saw me push the button darted past me, impervious to the "don't walk" signal:

"Those things don't work," he said over his shoulder, sauntering into on coming traffic, right in front of the Manchester Police Department. "You're wasting your time."

Could he be right? I recalled reading several years ago that something like 75 percent of all New York City's crosswalk buttons do not work, most of the pedestrian signals having become automated in the late 1980s.

Curious to know if Manchester's signals met a similar fate, I asked Public Works Director Kevin Sheppard, whose department is responsible for the maintenance of all 450 push-button crosswalk signals in the city of Manchester, NH.

"As far as we know they are all functional," he wrote in an email. "They are maintained and checked at least twice a year during inspections. If we are notified of a faulty button it is repaired."

So obey the law and press away, Manchester. You do not press in vain.

Comments

[Peter S.]

So much for the Pulitzer on this one, Will!

See you tomorrow night...

[Gerry Dupont]

Very interesting article! I believe that most people are very aware of safe crossing practices. I am glad to know that the Manchester Public Works crew is inspecting our cross walk signals.