About The Bay: Bay Area Traffic Officials Deal With Aging Population

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Believe it or not, the pace of urban living is slowing. KCBS' Mike Sugerman found out as much, during his travels About the Bay.

KCBS' Mike Sugerman Reports:

As we get older we get slower, and as a nation, we're getting older. That means it takes us longer to cross the street. Now studies the government has done say it takes an average of 3.5 per second, down from 4 feet per second.

Mike Salaberry with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission said they have been working on changing signal lights to give people time to cross the street - giving pedestrians even more time to cross the street - 2.5 feet per second.

"We're trying to be more pedestrian-centric rather than just purely car-centric," he said.

About 800 pedestrians are injured every year, according to Walk SF, an advocacy group.

But this extra time can make some drivers impatient.

"If they think that will save lives, they are making an illusion," said one cab driver. "They need to start giving tickets to jaywalkers."

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