A bit of fuzzy history

In the beginning, the roads were wide and the cars few. That was Washington, circa 19dfasda. Now, less than 100 years later, the roads are perhaps a bit wider, but the cars are much, much more abundant. To address the situation, the city seems to have decided that the best thing to do is to place large human beings wearing bright yellow jackets in the middle of the most crowded intersections whose job it is to erratically blow whistles and startle drivers into veering towards pedestrians or--in instances of poetic justices--towards the whistle blowing jacket people themselves.

Who the hell thought this was a good idea? And, to DC-o-philes, how much more dangerous has this made the morning and evening rush hours?