From Hildburg Bruns
Step by step, Berlin’s intersections are becoming safer for pedestrians. Because in the capital, black and red wants to hang up countdown traffic lights in the future.
They look completely different at first glance: there is an extra field between the red and green men. If the red man at the top lights up, a zebra crossing shrinks on the middle extra field – this shows how much time the pedestrian still has to cross safely.
This bar countdown is also a message to waiting, impatient motorists: Attention, the pedestrians are still right on the road! But then no one is allowed to start at the side of the road.
Transport Senator Manja Schreiner Photo: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
“Road safety is very important to us. I think pedestrians have always been neglected. The focus was on motorists and cyclists,” the new Transport Senator Manja Schreiner (45, CDU) explains her traffic light plan to the BZ
Schreiner continues: “One point keeps coming up in citizens’ letters: The traffic light phases are too short. We now want to make it clear to pedestrians and drivers how much time there is to clear the intersection when the red light is on.”
Berlin’s traffic authorities are currently negotiating with manufacturers about a suitable countdown traffic light system. It probably boils down to the decreasing bar motif. Schreiner tested it himself at a traffic light in Brunnenstraße (Wedding).
Ten years ago, her predecessor Michael Müller (59, SPD) had already tested three different traffic light types. After the pilot test, the approval of the Federal Ministry expired – meanwhile the road traffic regulations are no longer an obstacle.
When will it be converted? Whenever new traffic lights are installed on roads or when systems are modernized.