AutoExpress reports that new pedestrian-crossing lights are being trialled in the Netherlands. They provide stop-and-go signals down on the pavement, in an effort to stop engrossed smartphone users walking out into traffic.
Built by Dutch firm HIG Traffic Systems, the new “+LightLine” light comes with an LED array that illuminates the pavement with a transverse strip a short ways back from the curb. Pedestrians too hypnotised to look up from their phones will see the colour of the strip beneath their feet before stepping out into the road.
The traffic lights are being tried out in the municipality of Bodegraven-Reeuwijk and switch the light on the ground between red and green. When the light is about to change colour, the LED strip will blink repeatedly to alert pedestrians.
Kees Oskam, a councillor in the municipality, said more and more pedestrians are distracted by their phone at the expense of paying attention to traffic: “We can’t easily reverse this trend, but we want to anticipate it.” Mark Hofman of HIG, told a Dutch news site OmroepWest: “Smartphone use by pedestrians and cyclists is a major problem. Trams in The Hague regularly make an emergency stop because someone looks at their smartphone instead of traffic.”
