HONG KONG: Pedestrians crossing the highway in Hong Kong could now discover themselves bathed in a red glow after authorities put in a device reminding the public to obey traffic lights.
Too usually, Hong Kongers stroll into traffic as a result of they’re distracted by their smartphones, Alex Au, chief engineer of the metropolis’s transport division, stated on July 7.
“For people looking down at their phones, we have found another way to let them know there is danger,” Au stated on a radio programme.
Au added that in the first half of the yr, 4 of the seven deadly incidents occurring on Hong Kong’s highway crossings had been associated to pedestrian behaviour.
“Maybe (the device) can help save lives,” Au stated.
The new device works in sync with a traffic mild and initiatives a red hue from above when pedestrians have to cease.
It is being examined at 4 highway crossings throughout the metropolis, and officers will overview in six months their effectiveness in curbing inattentive strollers and unrepentant jaywalkers.
Near a busy mall in Causeway Bay, one in all the metropolis’s hottest procuring districts, the sudden look of a red highlight was greeted with approval – and occasional confusion.
“I personally don’t do this, but I have noticed people ignoring road conditions because they were glued to their phones,” stated a researcher surnamed Kwok.
“I think people will notice the colour even if their heads are down.”
But, surrounded by brilliant signage and billboards, one other lady stated she had no concept what the glow from above was speculated to imply.
“When I walked over just now, I didn’t know what it was doing,” she informed AFP.
Others – together with the handful of jaywalkers noticed at the scene – might even see it in an altogether completely different mild.
“If people really want to ignore (the red light), that’s what they’ll do,” stated a clerk surnamed Chung.
“You can’t stop them.”
In latest years Hong Kong has recorded round 2,000 to three,000 pedestrian casualties in traffic accidents per yr in a inhabitants of seven.4 million. – AFP
