Several years back the Department of Transportation spent millions of dollars to swap out all of the crosswalk signals in New York City.  They said that the old signals were a safety hazard due to less of the population and visitors lacking the ability to read the English language. 

The signals went from ‘Walk/Don’t Walk’ written words to ‘Stickman’ for walk and a ‘Hand’ to signify don’t walk.

It was a controversial move to make the switch with many people having an odd love for the written word while others felt that it was a good move to help those not well versed in two of the most simple words of the English language. 

With that said, it looks as though those with the love for the written word have won out!

Why?

Seriously why? 

Why would the Department of Transportation spend millions of dollars to swap out all of the crosswalks so that people wouldn’t have to read two simple words in order to cross a street in a safe manner and then go around in a terrible circle by creating two signs that have more than a dozen and a half words on them that describe what the “simple” signals mean?

Somehow, 18 words (not including Dept of Transportation) are needed to describe univeral signals.  Go figure. 

On top of that, why would they make only one of these?  We’ve seen thousands of the new crosswalks over the years and this is the only sign that we’ve ever seen that gives directions on how to use them to cross the street. 

Too bad the D.O.T still seems to be under the impression that those who cannot read English still can’t cross a street safely due to their crosswalk signals.