More safety for cell phone-using pedestrians

German transportation provider Stadtwerke Augsburg is experimenting with warning lights at two pedestrian crossings in the city in an effort to alert oblivious phone-using pedestrians to approaching trams. Rows of flashing LED lights installed into the kerb are intended to act as an alternative to conventional warning signs; when a tram approaches, they flash red to warn pedestrians that the traffic signal is red and green when it is safe to cross.
April 26, 2016 Read time: 1 min

German transportation provider Stadtwerke Augsburg is experimenting with warning lights at two pedestrian crossings in the city in an effort to alert oblivious phone-using pedestrians to approaching trams.

Rows of flashing LED lights installed into the kerb are intended to act as an alternative to conventional warning signs; when a tram approaches, they flash red to warn pedestrians that the traffic signal is red and green when it is safe to cross.

According to the Germany-based transportation research firm 7114 Dekra, an estimated 17 per cent of pedestrians engage with their smartphones in some way while walking. The prevalence of this habit is correlated with a rise in pedestrian accidents.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • London’s pedestrian countdown technology to be doubled by summer 2016
    September 11, 2015
    The number of pedestrian countdown sites across London will be doubled by summer 2016, the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have confirmed. The technology forms a key part of London’s first Pedestrian Safety Action Plan and replaces the ‘blackout’ period on traffic signals with a numerical counter to show how long pedestrians have left to safely cross the road. The Mayor had set TfL a target of upgrading 400 crossings – 10 per cent of all those in London – with the technology by April 2016. This targ
    Read More
  • Illinois investing in smarter highways
    February 11, 2014
    Almost 1,000 highway deaths in Illinois in 2013 and some of the worst interstate traffic congestion in the country has prompted the state to launch a US$45 million trial to investigate whether a blend of technologies can make smarter highways which are safer for drivers and less prone to congestion. Traffic engineers are focusing initially on the Edens Expressway and the northern stretch of US Highway 41 and will begin incorporating a mix of existing and new technology during the next two years, an under
    Read More
  • Social media a one-stop shop for travel information
    January 20, 2012
    Exponentially widening mobile phone ownership is opening up the field to new ways of obtaining and disseminating better travel information from and to public transport users, via for example social media and tracking riders' phones. Over 50 US transit agencies, including major actors such as TriMet, in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, Dallas Area Rapid Transit in Texas, and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), as well as smaller operators, now have Facebook and/or Twitter accoun
    Read More
  • More maintenance contracts for Siemens
    November 8, 2012
    Siemens has agreed new traffic signal maintenance contracts with four highways authorities in the UK, increasing the company's service cover across the country. The contracts are already under way in Coventry, Nottingham and Warwickshire, and due to start in Solihull shortly. Based on a competitive schedule of rates for a combination of various customer requirements, the contracts will run for five years and cover the maintenance of more than 400 traffic signal junctions, traffic equipment at almost 550 ped
    Read More

Highlighted Content