One of the big issues with shared-spaces is that blind people don’t feel safe as they can’t determine where they are supposed to be walking.Reversing priority at pedestrian crossings has a problem with how drivers are supposed to press the button. An alternative is to change the ‘beg’ button for pedestrians so that it allows them to cross quickly rather than waiting a minute or two.
there are many ways to detect a car reaching a set of lights, they probably wouldn’t need to actually get out and press. Just as they manage on sensor controlled junctions, now if only those junctions could be equipped with a cyclist button so you could be sure that you are waiting because the light will change, and not left wondering has the camera/metal detector even registered my presence or am i waiting for a car to arrive.
Agree about beg buttons, they should respons within a few seconds, making pedestrians wait often leads to them waiting, then crossing on red, then drivers being stopped for no reason, pointless. Arguably there should be a minimum time between car reds, but there is no reason for the delay.
Interesting at the school crossings the crossing guard will stop traffic immediately when pedstrians arrive, even if they can see another pedestrian coming close behind, and will not hesitate to stop traffic again after only one or two cars have been past, when more pedestrians reach the crossing. But with lights we often have a system where pedestrians may wait for a minute for no purpose. Or buttons which do nothing as green man will come on entirely driven by what the associated traffic lights are doing.