By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q. Who determines the time you have to walk across a signaled intersection? For instance, I've been trying to figure out the pedestrian walk signals on Pi'ikoi and Beretania. When you walk across Pi'ikoi, you have plenty of time. In fact you can cross twice before the green hand starts flashing red. However, when you want to cross Beretania after you take eight or nine rapid steps the red flashing hand comes on and before you can get across all the way, the stop/don't walk red hand is on.

A. First, the national standard for a green "walk" or walking man signal for pedestrians is seven seconds, according to Don Hamada, division chief for the Traffic Signals and Technology Division of the city Department of Transportation Services. The city uses that as a minimum, he said. But both motorists and pedestrians, he emphasized, need to remember that the green signal is intended only to get the pedestrian into the crosswalk, not all the way across the street.

After the green light comes the red flashing hand or "do not walk" signal which provides the pedestrian a minimum of 20 seconds to completely cross the street, also a national standard, Hamada said. Once the flashing sign is completed, there is an additional minimum of four seconds of yellow signal and one second of complete red before the other side gets a green, he said.

The green walking signal sometimes goes longer than seven seconds if the thoroughfare is part of a coordinated route, such as Beretania Street, where a series of intersections change at once. "It's a very long time," Hamada said of Beretania green signals.

There are also circumstances when the flashing red will be extended beyond 20 seconds as well, he said. That is determined by the actual distance of a street, using a national standard of 4 feet a second of pedestrian travel. For instance, a street that is 100 feet wide will have a flashing red signal duration of 25 seconds.

Intersections with high speed and sight-distance issues may also have longer, flashing red signals.

Hamada acknowledged that pedestrians and motorists sometimes get confused, which is why there are an increasing amount of "countdown" flashing red signals especially in high-pedestrian areas such as downtown Honolulu.

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