With only a small change, the Americans have turned

With this new design, all vehicles will simultaneously stop from all directions as pedestrians cross, serious accidents have been completely wiped out.

Crossing Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue is one of the most famous intersections in the world , where stars stride during the annual Oscars awards that you may have seen on TV. Unfortunately, this crowded tourist area is also 'famous' for being one of the most dangerous pedestrian intersections in Los Angeles (LA). But this title has disappeared since 6 months ago with a slight change in walk lane design.

Towards the end of last year, after a lot of news about pedestrians' deadly accidents, there have been some investigative reports about the most dangerous areas to walk in LA.

"High Injury Network", the map shows the most dangerous routes in the city.

At the top of this list is Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, the two roads are always bustling with people and cars, which are also very nice drivers not to notice people walking around. In addition, the sidewalk is sometimes so crowded that people have no choice but to go over the street.

In November, the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT) redesigned this intersection with a new X-pedestrian zone (also known as Barnes Dance). This area is designed to minimize collisions between pedestrians and vehicles, ensuring that vehicles can stop simultaneously in all directions while pedestrians cross the street.

Old intersection design:Vehicles that want to turn very easily touch people who are crossing the road in the lane to turn in, especially dangerous if the driver is out of sight.

With this new design, everyone can walk across the street diagonally instead of waiting for two new lights to pass on the opposite side. This is a great experience for those who are always afraid to cross the street. But most of all, this design helps drivers who do not encounter road-going people when they want to turn, erase the situation between drivers and pedestrians, one of the most common causes of car crashes. .

See comparing the old and new design of this intersection in the video below:

To get this initiative, LADOT used an approach based on analyzing the data available to solve dangerous intersections, part of the Vision Zero initiative in an effort to reduce deadly traffic accidents. about the global zero.

LADOT has partnered with the LA Police Department to provide continuous updates on crashes to establish an open data portal for the community. From 2009 to 2013, the average number of collisions in this intersection is 13 cases / year. But since being redesigned, this number has dropped to only 1 per year. The data show that in the first 11 months of 2015, this intersection witnessed a total of 19 collisions, of which 13 were injured. Reducing this number to only one case without injury is really an impressive achievement.

LADOT Director Seleta Reynolds said: "Reducing traffic accidents is a long way that requires a lot of processes before we get to the effective plan. Although we celebrate the initial success, the data Traffic data is constantly changing, we will continue to analyze the data over the last 5 years to improve our network of Vision Zero High Injury Network ".

New intersection design:All vehicles stop simultaneously from every direction when pedestrians cross, there is no longer a situation of passing or colliding with pedestrians.

Thus, if this model succeeds for a long time, why can't other intersections be designed in the same direction? Reasoning a bit, the price also plays a role . LADOT estimates the conversion cost to a new intersection is about 100,000 USD. But in addition to costs we need to consider other factors such as the purpose of each intersection . Such an X-shaped design would be the perfect solution for the busy intersections of people and vehicles. But with no overcrowded intersections and budgets, local authorities may consider other solutions, such as redrawing lines, or pushing sidewalk edges higher. Changes in signal lights can also be a good option.

A small change in design can create such a breakthrough may be the future solution for bustling streets, though only primarily in the US. This type of design has been tested quite effectively in Tokyo or London, but still faces some ideas that will increase traffic congestion. It is likely that this design will be greatly appreciated by about half a century ago, when people are more focused on people walking than vehicles. In big cities like New York, the rate of pedestrians who have experienced fatal accidents has risen to a wake-up call for cities to redesign their intersections.

LADOT believes that this X-shaped walkway is very good in Vietnam but it may still have to wait many years before it can become the standard for cities. However, imagine if this design was done two decades before LADOT first proposed it, how many lives would have been saved.