The "low head party" is blessed, and this LED sidewalk can be saved.

The design of the crosswalk is designed to protect pedestrians passing through the road, but it does not provide unconditional protection to pedestrians. At least, it is necessary for pedestrians to observe whether there is danger in the direction of their own walking. Today, the traffic safety of pedestrians is facing more risks due to mobile phones. A large number of studies have shown that the number of traffic accidents caused by pedestrians' distraction by mobile phones has increased significantly. It's clear that more and more "low heads" are going to cross the street, and they just slow down, but their eyes still stay on the screen instead of focusing on the traffic on the road. "Smart phones have really changed a lot of people's habits, but the traffic environment for people is not changing because of smartphones," said Soren Luckins, founder of B u ro North, a design studio in Melbourne. For the safety of the "low head", his solution is to set the crosswalk traffic on the ground, because the "low head" people are more likely to see it. In addition to the ground based red and green LED signal for pedestrians, the design of a vibrational signal that can be perceived by physical touch is designed for visual handicapped people. He called the scheme "intelligent walkway". Of course, the concept of such a smart walkway is not first proposed. Earlier this year, a company in Augsburg, Germany, installed a group of smart LED lights on the ground of two intersections. When the tram came in, the signal lamp sent a red flash alarm signal to alert pedestrians to safety. At the same time, similar experiments have been carried out in Cologne City, which is adjacent to Augsburg. You may feel that it's not a good idea to put the LED signal on the ground, because it can only be more used to the "low head" people, making them more dependent on their mobile phones and unable to extricate themselves. Soren Luckins also heard a similar sound. "In fact, I don't think the" low head "is more and more a good phenomenon," he said, "but either you do have the ability to change these people's" low "habits, or you have to accept the reality. Soren Luckins's view is that our city has an obligation to provide a safe travel environment for the citizens. "If the citizens' travel habits have changed, then the city should adapt to it." He said. The question is: how should I change it? For urban planning designers, this problem seems to go beyond the technical category and to the height of philosophy. When you are designing a city, do you want to compromise with the living habits of the citizens or to guide the citizens to develop better habits? Soren Luckins clearly holds the previous view, and the late traffic engineering expert, Hans Monderman, is a supporter of the latter view. Hans Monderman is famous for the design of a non signal traffic system in the north of Holland. In the traffic system he designs, there is no signal, no track line, and no guide sign. His design idea is that the driver will be more vigilant than the traditional traffic light intersection when driving to a completely unmarked and signal intersection, so as to ensure safer and more efficient crossing. This idea seems uncommon, but it does reduce the occurrence of traffic accidents in actual use. But there is a big risk in the way Monderman, "I don't think road - free roads can guarantee pedestrian safety," said Sarah Kaufman, assistant director of technical projects at the New York University's Rudin traffic research center. She cited the example of London, where traffic management advocates people to "look right at the left" when crossing the road, which leads people to "look up". "I think the sidewalk LED is too advanced," she said. There are also solutions that are trying to alert pedestrians to traffic safety through mobile phone software. Stephanie Lermen of SW Augsburg, a German LED project agent mentioned above, said that the company had also considered the software tips before designing the road LED scheme, but finally chose the current scheme. "We want to reduce the operation of pedestrians as much as possible," she said. "If you have to download an extra APP to cross the road, isn't that much more?" Luckins says, if it is in an ideal world, he will choose to design a solution that encourages people to develop good habits, rather than being used to them as they are now. But our real world, after all, is not an ideal state. "If people are able to develop a good habit, what we do now is not necessary," he said. "But the fact is that a lot of bad habits have led to a lot of traffic accidents." Lermen also agrees that "as a traffic planner, it is not our job to teach people to learn the right way of life, and our job is to ensure the safety of people on the road."