Let’s face it, Boston isn’t known for its drivers’ skill and grace. In recent months, the intersection of Charles and Boylston Street has seen a particularly rare uptick in roadside accidents. But as the reports rise, they suggest a different approach might be needed, pointing to not just unsafe drivers, but unsafe road design, too.

Repeatedly, pedestrians have described out-of-time countdowns and distracting lights at the intersection’s crosswalk signal, making it overwhelmingly difficult to simply get to where they need to be. For people like Maxwell, a student who has to either navigate through or around the intersection most days out of the week, this is all too familiar. “There’s so many times when I’m like a few steps away to the crosswalk and I’m like ‘I still have time.’ Nope. And the numbers start flashing,” he explained. “It’s definitely not pedestrian oriented, especially in that corner.”

For a lot of people, this persistent confusion surrounding the crosswalk means the best option is to altogether avoid it. Especially in the freezing cold temperatures of January and February, it can be jarring to see how barren it is for a beautiful downtown street corner.

Not everyone is deterred, though. Angela is visiting Boston for the first time, and is determined to reel it in while she can. When she stopped for a moment to talk about her time in the city, she was passing through “The neighborhood, here… walking, and it was great, so beautiful,” but, she couldn’t help wondering “‘Where’s the people?’ I couldn’t see a lot of people here.”

The Boston Transportation Department did not offer comment on the design of the intersection, but there are several construction proposals slated for the future to give the signals an upgrade.