In a bid to better interact with citizens permanently glued to their screens, Hong Kong’s street lights are moving to floor-level.

It’s safe to say we all know that smartphones can be quite attention-grabbing. But are they so interesting that you’d risk crossing the street without checking for traffic first? In Hong Kong, at least, the answer seems to be a quite resounding yes.

In an effort to keep their citizens safe despite them being glued to their phones, the city is now testing ground-level signal lights at pedestrian crossings. Instead of relying on the traditional “Red Man” stop and “Green Man” go signs, the new marking system involves the use of LED lights that bathe crossing areas in a red or green glow. The system is meant to be easily visible for people gazing down at a handheld device so that they will be reminded to stop if needed.

Heads up!

“With the increasing popularity of smartphones, some of these pedestrians are distracted,” said Alex Au, the Transport Department’s chief engineer for traffic control.

The new lights aren’t fitted into the pavement. Instead, they consist of a bunch of LED lights fixed to a horizontal arm, which is attached to a traditional signal light. The LEDs face downward, creating a strip of intense light on the pavement.

Apart from the LED lights, the crosswalks also play audio cues, ranging from cuckoo songs to the patterned melodies that are in common use around the world to help visually-impaired individuals navigate.These warning systems will be trialed at four locations in Hong Kong for six months. Based on their performance, local authorities will decide whether the system should be expanded to other crosswalks in the city.

Although they might be perceived as overbearing, particularly compared to current systems, there does seem to be a real need for Hong Kong’s ground-level signaling. Although the total number of pedestrians killed in vehicle impacts in Hong Kong has decreased in the last year, the number of such accidents caused by pedestrians who didn’t obey traffic signals, specifically, over the same period, has increased from four to six — a 50% increase. Between January and July of 2022, seven pedestrian deaths occurred at signalized crossings, and four of these cases involved these pedestrians not obeying traffic signals.

While the idea is definitely interesting and the thought process behind it seems solid — “If people tend to look in one direction predominantly, why not put the signals somewhere where they will see them easily?” — these field tests are meant to check just how well that idea works in practice.

While pedestrians do tend to look down when interacting with their devices, their attention is focused entirely on the screen. Will it be the case, then, that they might miss the new, ground-based signal lights as well? And how well will non-smartphone-wielding pedestrians interact with the new signals? The design is meant to address these issues; the audio cues increase the chances that pedestrians take heed of the crossing, and the LEDs bathe them in light when moving in to step on the crosswalk — but we won’t know for sure how well these ideas work until they’re tested in real-life scenarios.

Depending on how well the signals do here, other cities around the world might be interested in adopting them for their own use. For example, in 2021, Hong Kong registered 55 pedestrians killed by vehicles, corresponding to 0.74 people per 100,000. This is significantly lower than in New York state, for example, which registered 1.4 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people in 2019.

Although the novel signal lights have been well received so far, detractors point to the fact that unsignalized crosswalks still remain dangerous for inattentive pedestrians, and this new approach does not help improve the safety of those crosswalks in any way. Lowering the speed limit in risky areas is one approach that these groups are advocating as a more efficient method of reducing pedestrian fatalities.