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

  • Considering accessibility costs little and pays dividends for all travellers
    August 8, 2017
    Catering for those with disabilities can be cost-effective and improve services for all travellers, as David Crawford discovers. Clearer understanding of the economic value of accessible transport is essential if we are to speed up the current slow deployment levels, according to the Paris-based International Transport Forum (ITF), which staged a 2016 round table on the ‘Benefits and Costs of Inclusion in Transport’. It wants to see greater availability of data on levels of actual and unmet demand for acces
    Read More
  • Scaling up road safety analysis with Aimsun cloud simulation
    May 10, 2023
    Synthetic generation, execution, and analysis of thousands of road safety scenarios is exponentially more efficient and wider ranging than any methodology based on field data. Marcel Sala & Jordi Casas of Aimsun examine the benefits of cloud simulation for safety testing
    Read More
  • Traffic management market ‘worth US$16.89 billion by 2019’
    July 14, 2014
    A recent study by MarketdsandMarkets, Traffic Management Market by Solutions, Displays & Systems (Full Pedestrian, Parking Space and Toll Management, Above Ground Pedestrian and Vehicle Detection) - Global Advancements, Projects, Worldwide Forecast & Analysis (2014 - 2019) analysed and studied the major market drivers, restraints, and opportunities in North America, Western Europe, CIS and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The study reports that the traffic manageme
    Read More
  • UK defaults to hard shoulder running to expand motorway capacity
    April 8, 2014
    Hard shoulder running has become the UK’s default response to increasing motorway capacity as Colin Sowman reports. Facing a predicted 46% increase in traffic levels by 2040 and the current economic recovery leading to more people travelling to, from and for work leaves the UK government under short- and long-term pressure to increase the capacity on the main motorway network. Particular sections of motorways are already experiencing repeated, sometimes tidal, congestion and both tight Treasury limits and t
    Read More

Highlighted Content