Make them finally pay! (updated July 21st)

Again a familiar sign in the streets of The Most Livable City in The World (tm) ; a traffic congestion. Wondering what might be the cause this time. Let's take a closer look;



Ahha. Another lone pedestrian crossing the street with aid of pedestrian controlled traffic lights. This time an old timer with a walker. Even it takes a while for our fellow pensioner to cross the street, no worries. The pedestrian lights are adjusted so that crossing the street is possible even if one can move only at glacial speed.

All the streets have these pedestrian controlled traffic lights every 200m or so, and curiously, at each crossing there is always one pedestrian, who has pressed the button for a green light. And only when that one pedestrian has crossed the street, the next one comes in.. and the button gets pressed again.

Every time a pedestrian uses the lights, hundreds of drivers have to wait at each of them, before proceeding to the next set of traffic lights, and to another pedestrian. This kind of arrangement makes sure that drivers have to waste millions of extra hours in traffic, and it takes only few of these selfish pedestrians to do so.

Vancouver's city "planners" have already done enough harm to drivers with all the little "improvements" to the traffic flow in past few years. Now it is time to have the pedestrians to have little bit of taste of the same too. So, I propose DEMAND that those lights should be ARE made coin operated! This would make sure the pedestrians don't use these lights just for the fun to see drivers' faces turning red. Or at least they would be paying for it. And city would be making a fortune! So, if a pedestrian wants a green light, let him insert a dollar coin. And if one wants a bit longer green light, bit faster, let him insert another dollar. Make them finally pay!