The Netherlands is the first country in which there are traffic lights for smartphone users on the sidewalks in the city of Bodegraven-Reeuwijk. Named "+ Light Line", the project aims to help users to be safe when they approach a street crossing point in order not to be run over by cars because they inadvertently jump in front of them.
Multiple traffic lights of this kind have been placed around several schools in the city of Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, but they have an additional safety element. More precisely, a line of red colored LEDs is also placed just before the person actually steps on the street, so he will know that he must be careful, even if he is looking at his smartphone instead of the road when he walks.
The prospective LED lines turn green when people can cross the street, so theoretically they don't even have to look up from their smartphones. The idea behind this system was born because of the growing concerns that the municipality has about people who use smartphones even when they are walking and are not paying attention to what is happening around them.
For now, everything is just a project that is in the testing phase by the municipality to see how feasible its application is for several areas of the cities. It is not known how much it costs to place these traffic lights for smartphone users, but if the tests are successful, then they could be placed in several areas.
"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."
