I agree, the wait at the lights at Sainsburys is very long. If I'm waiting there, I will look for an opportunity to cross before they turn red, especially if I know I've just missed it. Not through standing traffic though. obviously.

However, I wonder what the knock on effect further up the road would be if the wait time was shortened? When I first moved to FH fifteen years ago, the traffic coming up past the Horniman at peak times was much, much worse than it is now, and usually backed up at last to where the Harvester is (was). I would never have used the main South Circular between, say 4pm and 7pm, always taking the rat run through Devonshire Road, or even going via Honor Oak. It was that bad. Now it might be a bit slow at those times, but not enough to make taking a diversion worthwhile. I assume the fact that it's so much better is down to fine tuning of the lights between there and FH.

I'm not, of course, saying that traffic movement is more important than pedestrian safety. Just that making adjustments is a fine art.