Typical crosswalks are designed so that vehicles and pedestrians travel together in the same flow of traffic. For instance, when a walk sign is on for pedestrians traveling North-South, vehicles are allowed to travel North-South as well. People walking and vehicles traveling in East-West directions must wait.
Scramble crosswalks, on the other hand, allow people walking to travel in all directions, including diagonally. When people are crossing, vehicles are not allowed to travel at all. This just debuted in Victoria BC, as the city’s first scramble crosswalk at the intersection of Government Street and Wharf Street opened this week. The crosswalk stops vehicle traffic in all directions, allowing pedestrians to cross both streets at the same time, or walk diagonally through the intersection.