MIG wrote:
On 4 Nov, 20:46, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
17:44:06 on Wed, 4 Nov 2009, Arthur Figgis
remarked:

Is there a theoretical reason why they are supposed to be "better"? I
did try Googling when one of the blasted things arrived near here, but
couldn't find a good explanation.
Yes, to look at the red/green men, you have to face the oncoming
traffic. Supposedly you are therefore less likely to run across the road
having failed to notice that there *is* and oncoming traffic (regardless
of the state of the men).

One of the many flaws is that if you are consciously wanting to look for
the red/green men, you probably also aren't likely to be taking a punt
on running across the road regardless of the state of the lights.

For a couple of generations we've been trained, cajoled and exhorted to
look for the red/green men across the road, high up. We simply don't
expect to find them on our side of the road, at knee height. Sideways.

Backwards in many situations. You have to look away from the road and/
or step back.

Having another search, it seems the main feature is detecting people on
the crossing and using that to adjust the timings. (OMFG now big brother
watches us cross the road!!! etc etc)

This page seems to say the lights are in a funny place for visually
impred users. The information is contained only in an image, with no ALT
text :-)
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tpm/...rossing?page=2
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK