The crossing gods were with me this morning. Walking home after my spin class on the roof at TAO, I barely had to stop at any intersection. Amazing. Our friendly little waking man icon in full stride greeted me at every corner. This after a week in New York where one ignores lights and scopes out the traffic before stepping off the curb. Proud to say, I quickly blended into masses, throwing L.A. pedestrian caution to the wind. No tourist here. But getting back into the Los Angeles rules is a bit frustrating. I want to keep going, don’t you?

According to traffic engineers who know these things on http://www.walkinginfo.org/faqs/answer.cfm?id=11, “a typical WALK interval requires a minimum of four (4) to seven (7) seconds. This is the time for people to start walking into the street. After a few steps into the street, pedestrians may see a flashing orange upraised hand or DON’T WALK signal. When this occurs, there should be enough time to complete crossing the street, but if you have not stepped into the street, you should stay on the curb and wait for the next walking man or WALK signal.” 

And now we  have the countdown pedestrian signals to show the man or woman on the sidewalk “exactly how much time they have left to cross the street. While these countdown clocks give the pedestrians the best information available, some pedestrians may continue to start crossing on the DON’T WALK because they think that they will have adequate time to cross if they hurry. In addition, there are concerns that some motorists may use the countdown clock to speed up to ‘make’ the signal.”

So I got home in record time, hoofing it from La Cienega to Rexford, even running into my niece back from college who was walking her dog. Again, another reason to hit the sidewalks in this town.