Not Just Bikes is my new favourite YouTube channel. Here’s a few bits from their new-ish video on pedestrian urban mobility:
North American traffic engineers value the convenience of the people who drive more than the lives of the people who walk.
...in The Netherlands the traffic light for cars is on the near side of the intersection. This means that in order to see the traffic light a driver needs to stop before the zebra crossing.
...In North America the traffic light is on the far side of the intersection... [which] means that a driver can drive into the zebra crossing and still see the traffic light on the other side... [This] results in this very common situation of a driver blocking the zebra crossing.
And here’s my favourite because it applies as a general design principle:
Physics works better than signs.