As part of its efforts to improve road safety and provide pedestrian-friendly features, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) will test the use of innovative light emitting diode (LED) light strips at signalized pedestrian crossings in a six-month trial.
The LTA has a long-term commitment to transform the city state into one of the world’s leading smarty city environments, with the safety of all road users a high priority. The agency has installed and activated the new LED light strips at two busy pedestrian crossings located at the junction of Buyong Road and Orchard Road, near the Istana; and the Victoria Street crossing outside Bugis Junction. The crossings were chosen as they are located near popular amenities frequented by a high volume of pedestrians across different demographics, such as young and elderly pedestrians.
The new LED light strips are embedded in pavements near the edge of the crossing, and will operate in unison with the pedestrian traffic lights to switch between steady green, flashing green and steady red signals. When the ‘Green-man’ signal is on to indicate pedestrians’ right of way, the light strips will show a steady green. When the lights are about to change, the strips will adopt the flashing green signal to warn pedestrians that it is unsafe to proceed. When the ‘Red-man’ signal is on, the light strips will be steady red to draw the attention of pedestrians, warning them not to cross the road.
The six-month trial will allow LTA to study whether the LED light strips are useful in encouraging pedestrians to focus on the traffic signals at pedestrian crossings, and whether they are suitable for Singapore’s local context and climate. Site observations and analysis, as well as public perception surveys, will be conducted during the trial period to seek the general public’s views on the effectiveness of the new light strips.
The Singapore government and LTA are actively promoting ‘Zero carbon’ options, such as walking and cycling, as a convenient and safe way to get around the island. The LTA has recently introduced more covered link ways and pedestrian overhead bridges around MRT stations and bus interchanges, so that pedestrians can enjoy more seamless multimodal transfers, as it develops more integrated transport networks. Across the city, there are currently more than 2,000 signalized pedestrian crossings and close to 500 overhead bridges to help improve pedestrian safety.
