When I started driving in Toronto, many years ago, the little red hand on the crossing signal didn't flash to indicate to the pedestrians that they'd better hurry up because the light was changing. It just went from the little man to the red hand and that was it, don't ****ing cross. When it changed to the flashing hand, as a driver, I knew that it was still okay to go through the green and that the light wouldn't be changing to yellow anytime soon as people were still crossing. If you were a little ways away from the intersection and you saw that the hand was starting to flash, you'd pick up speed so as to make the light, it is a natural reaction.

I think we will see more of this and people will be flying through those late yellow lights. I too wish the city would quit cow-towing to drivers; the core is packed enough, there should be developments made to make it less-than-appealing to people to drive downtown.[/rant]