Hong Kong street crossing countdown clock could boost pedestrian safety, trial shows
- More pedestrian crossings could be fitted with countdown clocks before red man shows after promising trial results
More Hong Kong pedestrian crossing lights could be fitted with countdown timers to alert people after a HK$1.14 million (US$145,940) trial by transport authorities found they helped cut the number of those who risked their safety by making a dash just before the “red man” lit up.
“Preliminary data shows that after the installation of the countdown device, there was an improvement in pedestrians crossing the road completely before the flashing ‘green man’ light ends,” Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said in a written reply to the Legislative Council on Wednesday.
He was responding to questions from lawmaker Chan Siu-hung, who had grilled authorities over the trial’s progress.
The countdown clock, in operation at the pedestrian crossing at Tat Tung Road and Mei Tung Street in Tung Chung since December last year, produced results that were “unlike” and “more effective” than similar tests carried out in 2006 and 2018.
Unlike in the earlier studies, the timer started its countdown as soon as the green man appeared, rather than when it started to flash.
The Transport Department found in the previous trials that more pedestrians were unable to complete a crossing before the red man lit up.