Transport for London (TfL) has insisted that pedestrian safety is paramount to its proposals to introduce pedestrian countdown at some London crossings.
A TfL spokesman said the organisation is looking at technology used successfully in San Francisco which achieved a quarter reduction in pedestrian collisions. TfL is reviewing the capital’s traffic signals as part of mayor Boris Johnson’s election manifesto pledge to smooth traffic flow in the city.
Since July, traffic signal timings at 150 sites have been altered in order to improve traffic flow and the organisation has written to the Department for Transport (DfT) for permission to trial the signals.
For such a move to go ahead, the DfT would have to make an amendment to Section 5 of Regulations 47-52 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions act (TSRGD), but states the Secretary of State for Transport can approve a trial under Direction 56 of the act.
Responding to media reports that pedestrians will have to walk faster in order to cross roads under the new scheme, the spokesman said this was ‘utter nonsense’.
‘Countdown will enable us to give pedestrians better information, and when the green man goes out everybody will still have enough time to get across the road safely.’
According to the spokesman, pedestrians are always provided with a ‘safe crossing period’ in line with DfT guidance for a walking speed of 1.2 metres per second. In many cases the time exceeds the demand, which has led to the alterations being made.
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