That's why two San Jose Department of Transportation employees were in downtown Willow Glen at the end of July taking a survey of pedestrians' reactions.

"It's a new sign and we like to get feedback," said San Jose Department of Transportation civil engineer Jim Bittner.

The new crosswalk signs are identical to the previous crosswalk signs except that they flash. When pedestrians want to enter the crosswalk, they push a button and the crosswalk on the sign lights up, alerting motorists from a distance that a pedestrian is entering the intersection on busy Lincoln Avenue.

But pedestrians said the sign doesn't make them feel safer.

Andrea Antoni, who works in downtown Willow Glen, said that even after pushing the button, she can't tell if the lights are flashing on the sign, because it's a distance away from the crosswalk, and it's facing into traffic.

"You don't know if it's safe to cross," she said.

Sharky's Oyster Bar and Grill manager Steve Ramona said that the crosswalk consistently has close calls even with the new system in place. There have been several auto and pedestrian collisions, he said.

Ramona was only 5 feet away when a woman three-quarters into the crosswalk was hit in mid-July. After the incident, Ramona called District 6 Councilman Ken Yeager's office, concerned that the lights weren't working properly.

"The lights are ridiculous," Ramona said. "At least, they're trying to do something, but people can't see them."

Willow Glen resident Ken Miller said when he, his wife and their daughters, in a two-seated stroller, used the button, a truck on the right side was blocking the sign, creating a blind spot for motorists in the middle lane.

"We had to creep out to keep someone from swerving," he said. With the signs only on the right side of the traffic flow, drivers don't have a "double dose" of warning if the sign is blocked, Miller said.

He added that it would help pedestrians to know if the sign was working if the sign "leaked light to the back."

But Willow Glen Neighborhood Association board member Jim Spence, who serves on a traffic safety committee, said the sign was designed so that pedestrians would watch the traffic rather than the sign to know if it's safe to cross.

"It's not supposed to stop traffic," Spence said. "It was never intended to tell pedestrians that it's safe to cross. It's an indicator that someone wants to cross."

Spence said that because the flashing crosswalk signs are the first of their kind in San Jose, the public education process takes longer before people will use it.

"I've driven down Lincoln, and I know people are not using [the new system]," Spence said. "If pedestrians don't use it, then motorists won't be used to seeing it."

San Jose Department of Transportation Deputy Director Amit Kothari said that field surveys found that pedestrians were responding positively to signs.

The city is planning to add an eye-level sign above the button, Kothari said, to remind pedestrians to use the device but to proceed with caution.

"The main purpose is to warn drivers," Kothari said. And he added that the engineers observing the crosswalk recorded that approximately 90 percent of drivers stopped.

During the 90-day pilot program, the city also plans to add an LED light to the back of the sign so pedestrians know it's working.

Whether or not pedestrians or drivers are aware of the sign, Spence said, it is still the pedestrian's responsibility to be vigilant when entering the crosswalk.

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association President Helen Solinski agreed that pedestrians should not rely on motorists yielding to the sign.

"Lincoln Avenue is a main artery," she said. "You can't expect everyone to have the reflexes of a young person."