Originally Posted by Helmet Head
Two words: try it.
You'll be amazed.
Assumptions: there are sidewalks, and you're at a corner of a 4-way intersection. Vehicles do slow down and turn into and out of the side road of the intersection, at least once in a while.
I have. There is a pizza shop across the street from my neighborhood and where a side street crosses I've tried to cross by foot. With assertive hand waving it took me 8min to cross once. Usually I do the extra 1mi walk (1/2mi up and down street) to get to a controled signal.
This resonates with me as my wife and I sometime wish the pizza shop, convinence store was a 1/4mi walk from home instead of a 1-1/4mi or a 1/4mi with running across 7 lanes of traffic after unsuccessfully trying to get drivers to stop.
I will make a video and show you. As soon as one car stops blocking a lane all the others rapidly merge left to go around it. Its one thing to ride down the street with a speed differential of 20-25mph, but with a differential of 50mph drivers don't have time to react to some guy waving his arm on the sidewalk.
Al