By Larissa Hoppe
Pedestrian traffic lights in Berlin. For many it’s just a pig’s gallop. And even that is often not enough. How can that be?
The traffic light has turned green, you start walking quickly, you’re just over halfway down the lane – then the light turns red again! And now fast, there are turns coming from the left.
Roland Stimpel (65), spokesman for Fuss e. V., explains: “It is firmly planned that you are still on the road when it is red.”
Like mine? “Yes. Because people say that otherwise people would keep going and the cars would never start safely.”
According to the traffic senate, pedestrians should have reached at least two-thirds of a street when it is green. So far, so understandable.
But at what speed! The ideal walking speed during comfortable green phases is one meter per second. But there are still “a number of traffic lights” where this does not work. You have to be faster there! Hardly or not at all manageable for seniors, small children or people with a broken leg.
“And then something scary happens,” says Stimpel: “The people turning off think that someone is walking on red. Some honk, jostle or just drive off. The result: Twice as many pedestrians who walked on green have accidents than those who walked on red.”
Solution ideas are there.
With a traffic light that shows yellow during the so-called clearing time. But this is only available in Düsseldorf.
Or the one at Checkpoint Charlie. All vehicles are parked here at the same time, and pedestrians can also cross the intersection.
In Berlin, however, they preferred to stay with tests.
A traffic light model with a visualized zebra crossing in the middle at Fehrbelliner Platz was tried out. In addition, flashing red and flashing green were tested. Partly too wild for the road traffic regulations and not eligible for approval. To this day, none of this has become widespread.
What is the current status?
On request, the traffic senate informed that the further use of a zebra crossing signal was being examined. Apart from that, reference is made to LED light and traffic light men, which are easier to see. Aha. A big hit sounds different.
The current traffic light changes are not only exhausting, but simply dangerous. Please change urgently!