If you’re visiting Spain soon, be ready for a big change in traffic for pedestrians and drivers, starting October 1st.
The big change is keeping cars at a standstill when pedestrians crossing, rather than giving them a flashing amber light to allow them to move through the intersection—a situation that has been noted as a safety hazard.
The General Directorate of traffic has announced the change, which does not require physical changes to the lights; instead they will be reprogrammed. Before cars see the flashing amber, which functions like a stop sign, there must first be a steady red light, and the flashing amber can’t appear until the ‘green man’ walk light nears its end and begins flashing, and it will only mean that drivers can get ready, not that they can proceed.
Ana Blanco, Deputy Director of Traffic at the DGT also pointed that the existing pattern at these crossings sends “contradictory messages” due to the “coincidence of the green pedestrian phase, in which pedestrians have priority, with a flashing amber phase, which allows vehicles to cross, creating a dangerous situation for the most vulnerable.”
Image: Joaquin Carfagna/Pexels.com
