Keep Visible—LED Traffic Guide Line
Agency
ICAMP DESIGN
Practice Area
Client
Zhejiang Municipal Transportation Bureau
Industry
Project Vision
The aim of this project is to solve the problem of visual blind spots in cars, especially for drivers following a large truck or bus. It is a new way of using traffic light design, not meant to completely replace the original infrastructure, just supplement it.
Traditional traffic lights are always installed hanging. In daily use, the visual information provided by hanging lights alone is not enough to support the entire movement through the traffic light. Especially in the last few seconds of the green light, many drivers feel panicked because they feel they may accidentally run the red light, or cause other dangers.
So, the design team reimagined traditional traffic lights on the ground in a new form, including the direction of the signal, the density change of the signal lights, and the intuitive Arabic digital information. In this way, the driver can receive the traffic lights at the normal distance from the car, even if the front is a truck or bus. The dense change of the signal lamp is used to indirectly indicate how much time the driver has left, while the Arabic numerals are used to express the traffic signal directly. The combination of the two reflects the rigor of the design process.
The team’s biggest challenge was how to arrange the LEDs to deliver more information to drivers. Even when decreasing signal lights, there is no misleading factor in the new scheme, because it was taken into account: The team used many buried LEDs to control light time, color and density changes through integrated circuits, so as to accurately transmit information.
The project came about in response to the local government’s hope to increase road safety through design. So far, there are positive technical support and demonstration results. The impact of this project is that increasingly, people are beginning to think about whether we can change the way traditional solutions are used to solve problems.
Project Details
A clever, integrated solution to a problem that most drivers often fail to recognize: the frequent visibility issues of standard traffic signaling. The addition of dynamic features, such as signal duration indications, takes superior signaling solutions that aviation and airports have had for years, and brings them to hapless motorists navigating urban jungles.
This project offers an inclusive solution to all vehicles on the road. With motorcyclists and all vehicular travelers in mind, this design solution brings to light, quite literally, important information drivers need in order to safely navigate busy streets of any city. Brilliant concept for preventing accidents on the road.
Design Team
Chenyao Xu (principal in charge), Yuansheng Lee (technical support)
Design Firm
ICAMP DESIGN
Fabricators
YK Design