I was just thinking that there is really room for another innovation. Ever been a driver at an intersection where you have a turning green light at the same time as the pedestrians crossing the street you are trying to turn on and there is a constant stream of one or two people that keeps you and other drivers from turning until the pedestrian light turns red and only one car has the chance to turn? How about implementing something like the OP light, that leads to grouping pedestrians crossing the street to allow a car to turn in between them. Seems smart to me, especially in areas like universities or work centers where there are rushes of people in between classes, lunch, or rush-hour.
In most US cities it's technically illegal to drive through the crosswalk until all pedestrians have reached a crub, even if they are crossing clear across the way. It's a great idea though.
They're a nice way of balancing foot traffic with the need for vehicles to turn at a light. I'm not sure why they're not more popular around the world.
Not quite. I was thinking of a single crossing. At least in the US at many intersections the pedestrian light is synced with the parallel car traffic, which leads to a stream of people blocking right turn traffic due to a constant stream. I am talking about building in a batch iteration, e.g., during the green light, there is a flashing yellow that requires pedestrians to stop for 5 seconds, which would cause pedestrians crossing to group together and creating gaps during which cars can turn.
