I see what Pete is saying. The faster you go, the greater the danger zone, but also the farther it is in front of you:
In zone 1 the pedestrian cannot reach the danger zone from the side before the car passes. In zone 2 the pedestrian can cross before the car arrives.
At the slower speed the red danger zone is smaller but nearer. This has the effect that it is necessary to look nearer to one's own bonnet rather than farther ahead.
When trying to see the 'big picture' ahead this means that more scanning backward and forward is needed, and might help explain why it 'just feels wrong' to drive at a very slow speed. It is more comforatble to drive at a speed where the red danger zone (for pedestrians) is just far enough ahead where you expect to be looking at the traffic in front and your navigation landmarks.
I believe this to be so. It also adds weight to why the raised road humps are so dangerous. The peristaltic progress demands greater aft scanning despite having previously assessed a humpy area hazard-free (apart from the hump) as the inordinate reduction in speed necessary to negotiate the hump brings with it the time for hazards to develop in an area previously assessed as know hazard-free.
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