“This is an important further development in terms of safety, especially for our hearing and visually impaired children,” says Irene Mühlbach. The director of the Michael Reitter School on Kapuzinerstraße means the traffic light directly in front of the school building, which is a novelty in Linz. As reported, it is the first traffic light in the city to be controlled with artificial intelligence. Cost point: 67,500 euros.
The city of Linz uses smart and “thinking” traffic technology here, as the responsible Deputy Mayor Martin Hajart (VP) says. The contactless traffic light recognizes when people are standing in front of the zebra crossing and want to cross the street and automatically switches to green. After a “learning phase”, the intelligent traffic light will also be able to adapt the length of its green phases to slower pedestrians or larger groups.
Teacher Monika Ullmann, who is returning from the hiking day with a school class, is excited to see how the traffic light will fare. Thomas Menrath, traffic officer for the Blind Association of Upper Austria, likes the system. He has already tested the traffic light. “Once I stood right in front of the zebra crossing, then three meters away from the traffic light,” he says in an OÖN interview. After 15 to 20 seconds, the traffic light always switched to green.
Menrath sees a small disadvantage in the fact that blind acoustics do not work automatically. Blind and partially sighted people also need a hand sensor that uses acoustic signals to help them find the right way.
Source: Nachrichten
