Tag: pedestrian
Pedestrian-counting cameras to replace London traffic cops
Call it the traffic version of “I Spy”: A smart camera system is fulfilling traffic cop duties in London, reports CNN, by counting crowds of people and granting them more or less time to cross the road. Pedestrian SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimization Technique) relies on high-tech video cameras to determine the number of pedestrians […]
Americans don’t walk – but it’s not because we’re lazy
Most Americans don’t walk for one reason: In most communities, walking is both inconvenient and unsafe. At least that’s what F. Kaid Benfield, Special Counsel for Urban Solutions, Natural Resources Defense Council, argues in a recently published excerpt from his book of essays, People Habitat: 25 Ways to Think About Greener, Healthier Cities. Americans lose […]
Towns wave white flag in fight for pedestrian safety
The road to pedestrian hell is paved with good intentions — and lined with brightly colored flags. Bridgeport, Conn., is the latest American city to institute a pedestrian flag system at one of its downtown intersections. The concept is easy to grasp: Pedestrians grab a flag from a post and wave it as they cross […]
Are pedestrian deaths the Titanic of intersection redesign?
The death of more than a thousand passengers aboard the sinking Titanic resulted in adoption of rigorous maritime safety regulations. It has taken a rising number of pedestrian deaths in New York’s busy intersections for the city to shift its focus to road safety. Take the example of a busy street where it took another pedestrian death […]
Study: Cars more dangerous than natural disasters
Floods, tornadoes and earthquakes are not as dangerous as simply being a pedestrian in America, according to a report by the National Complete Streets Coalition, a nonprofit safety advocacy group. More than 47,000 pedestrians died in vehicle collisions in America over 2003 to 2012, a number which tallies to 16 times the amount of Americans […]
New gadget gauges sidewalk compliance
A seemingly simple three-wheeled device — Wired calls it a “magic cart” — may make America’s sidewalks safer for the disabled. Created by Peter Axelson, who has used a wheelchair since 1975, the device is programmed with federal, state and local disability regulations. A worker runs the device, formally known as Prowap, or Public Rights-of-Way […]
