Ground Level traffic lights proposed to mitigate pedestrian accidents

Australian design firm Büro North noticed that with the advent of the cultural phenomenon of Pokémon Go, there has been a notable number of incidents/accidents involving passengers who were too busy trying to capture monsters on their mobile devices and not noticing the traffic lights. So they are proposing an in-ground traffic lights system so that even if you’re looking down at your phone, you will still know when it’s time to cross the street or when you shouldn’t.

Well, to be fair to Nintendo, even before the game, there was already a huge number of crossing and traffic related accidents, mostly because people are so involved with whatever they’re doing on their smartphones that they don’t pay attention to their surroundings. Büro North has come up with a Smart Tactile Paving System where the LED lights on the ground turn green if you’re supposed to cross and red if you shouldn’t. It is meant for any crossing that already has an existing traffic light system and it will connect to there, only it’s tactile paving slabs.

This isn’t the first time that it has been proposed to adjust to people’s current mobile using habits instead of just issuing warnings to pay attention or to look up from your smartphones. The German city of Augsburg has put on a similar system at tram crossings. Portland, Seattle, and Cleveland have come up with talking buses. Lisbon has put on “dancing” traffic lights so people will wait to cross when it’s safe. Meanwhile, MIT is proposing a new system where traffic lights need not be involved anymore.

You may think that people who get into accidents because they were too involved in their smartphones are stupid, but it does happen a lot and with the advent of Pokémon Go, it will probably increase even more. So if this system from Büro North gets adapted in Australia, let’s see if it will actually be effective in accident prevention.

VIA: Dezeen