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Berlin wants to convert: traffic lights, which have to be replaced anyway, are to be replaced in the future by signals with a so-called space-time display
Photo: Soeren Stache / dpa
Almost every pedestrian knows it, anyone who lives in a big city: you cross an intersection at a traffic light, the signal changes from green to red before you have made it to the other side - and drivers are jostling from the side because they are now
finally
want to take a turn. Berlin now wants to take the fuel out of this conflict. Special countdown lights are intended to show pedestrians and drivers alike the time remaining in which it is still safe to cross the street.
This is not a countdown with numbers, as is already used in some cities to count down the waiting time until the next green phase. The additional display favored in Berlin consists of a series of white bars, similar to a zebra crossing, which appear as soon as the traffic light turns red. The individual bars then gradually disappear.
Target of the new ads? “To counteract a pedestrian’s feeling of insecurity,” as the traffic administration reports. “At the same time, turning vehicle traffic should also be given an indication that the people are rightly on the road.”
"Hold on, let the others go first"
This phase, known in technical jargon as “remaining clearing time”, is granted by the road traffic regulations anyway. “But the road traffic regulations are not clear to everyone,” says Siegfried Brockmann, accident researcher at the Björn Steiger Foundation. With a view to increasing aggressiveness in road traffic, the display could possibly be helpful, says Brockmann. “This new traffic light certainly doesn’t solve the safety problem.” Because the basic problem lies in the green phases, which are far too short anyway and are geared towards people who can walk well. “Older people or people with disabilities can’t do it.”
The more than 60,000 traffic lights in Germany are actually programmed to change while Otto Normal is still on its way to the other side. The nationwide guidelines for traffic signals state that the pedestrian must be at least half of the way during the green phase - at a speed of 4.3 km/h. This is where the remaining clearing time comes into play, which is already factored into the calculated total time for the route. A breeding ground for conflict. Road traffic regulations or not.
In Germany, people are taught from childhood that car traffic has the right of way, says Roland Stimpel from the advocacy group Fuss e. V.. “It says: Be careful, let the others go first.” The car-friendly city was the ideal of the post-war period. It is still difficult for transport policy to rethink and, above all, to implement pedestrian and bicycle-friendly plans.
“The basic problem that led to this invention lies in the way the traffic lights are switched,” says Stimpel. In order to give car traffic free passage for as long as possible, turning lights would be given the green light at the same time as pedestrians crossing the road. “A danger is accepted with approval.” This so-called conditionally compatible circuit constantly leads to conflicts and uncertainty and leads to over 1,000 injuries every year. “In Berlin alone, three people died this winter,” says Stimpel. “Now the countdown signal is supposed to suggest more security without actually providing it.”
Felt security
The traffic administration does not have any reliable data on the “feeling of security” mentioned. "However, there are always requests from citizens with the problem that pedestrians feel harassed by turning vehicles when the pedestrian signal has already turned red," the authority continues. An extension of the green time is also not associated with the planned change, "that was also not the background for the clearing time display."
For accident researcher Brockmann, the impression remains: “The new traffic light will not have any practical effects on traffic safety.” Fuss e. V. advocates using the funds for the planned gradual retrofitting of all Berlin traffic lights, which the Greens in Berlin also criticize as "expensive symbolic politics," for "more relevant measures": more zebra crossings and lowering of curbs, additional traffic lights in schools. And a reprogramming of the existing traffic lights.