EDITORIAL – Scramble crosswalks an answer in downtown Kamloops?
An ArmchairMayor.ca editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
One of the most dangerous places in town is any intersection when you’re a pedestrian trying to get across. You never know when a driver is going to be careless and hang a sharp right through a crosswalk just as you step into it.
It’s no fun for drivers, either, nervously negotiating their way through that crosswalk and wondering if a pedestrian will suddenly hop out.
There’s a better way of handling the driver-pedestrian tango — simply eliminate it.
A system called the pedestrian scramble, or Barnes Dance — after traffic engineer Henry Barnes who advocated for it back in the 1940s — is coming back into favour in Canada.
Under this system, traffic is stopped in all directions at an intersection as pedestrians cross in all directions, including diagonally.
Mel Rothenburger’s Armchair Mayor editorials appear Mondays through Thursdays on CFJC- TV. His Armchair Mayor column is published Saturdays on ArmchairMayor.ca and CFJC Today. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I think it works like a clock but what I really would like to see is you organize our listless council into approving it, by the time you could accomplish that, years would have passed and an even better idea could shock them into making a decision.
Saskatoon where I spent some time has them. Work just fine.
There are guidelines for their use. Not every corner is a candidate.
crossings have been introduced in order to reduce pedestrian delays, prevent crowding on sidewalks and to improve pedestrian safety by reducing pedestrian and vehicle conflicts. Although pedestrian scrambles prioritize pedestrians, they do increase delays for all vehicles, including transit.
Additional delays are also created since right-turns-on red are typically restricted at scramble
intersections
Kingston Ontario Guidelines
What a ludicrous idea. If anything, this would just make drivers angrier, which would defeat the whole idea. How about just enforcing the laws as they stand, and making the system we use now safer that way ?
Remember when everyone thought roundabouts were a ludicrous European idea that wouldn’t work here?
Lol. I still think that.