When the light turns red, a huge laser wall projecting apparitions of crossing pedestrians spans across the crosswalk. The concept is designed to keep crossing pedestrians safe from any overzealous drivers who otherwise might have ran the red light.
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December 1, 2009 12:55pm
that is several shades of awesome
December 1, 2009 13:05pm
And if there isn’t any fog or heavy dust for the lasers to strike, how are they to refract and/or reflect to the direction of the driver? Lasers don’t just make solid apparitions, they’re essentially really bright flashlights.
When they dust settles, the drivers would think that there is no red light, being accustomed to the laser crosswalk (if they WERE to have worked under ideal conditions). At which point, they’d cut em down.
Damn you physics! Things would be so much better without pesky reality ruining things.
December 1, 2009 13:17pm
Would be pretty cool. I definitely like the city application, would be a nice fit. I could easily see these in downtown Tokyo.
December 1, 2009 13:36pm
I think there’s a slight flaw in the concept, it looks like it will make it harder for the drivers to see if there is actually anyone crossing, therefore people crossing are still at the risk of the overzealous drivers as mentioned in the post.
December 1, 2009 15:50pm
another flaw is that pedestrians will think that its always cool to cross and maybe wont be as perceptive as they would be on a regular crossing, and will be ran over by overzelous drivers. only way this would work is if the laser actually cut the car like cheese. like light sabers!
December 1, 2009 16:57pm
This is a dumb idea. A better idea is this new invention called the red light. You see it, and you don’t drive.
December 1, 2009 17:01pm
Not only is it not doable and this is a classic case of an idiot unable to check if it’s even remotely doable at this stage, but it’s a bad idea if it was possible. It takes away visibility: swerving to save a crossing pedestrian’s life would be made more difficult by the animated assholes crossing, in case the car was late to apply the brakes. Then, the pedestrians would get a false sense of security, as if the thing is a wall and just cross without looking. Lastly, this just reduces visibility, and that’s just always a retarded thing on the road. What about approaching police vehicles with siren blaring ? They can’t make sure the road is clear before proceeding because of the fucking red light. Good job dumbshits.
December 1, 2009 18:54pm
How about a laser that disintegrates moronic pedestrians who saunter across the street, regardless of the status of the traffic light or crosswalk sign, yakking away on their cell phones. What ever happened to looking both ways and paying attention? People in cars have a much smaller range of view and a lot more flying past their field of vision. They do what they can. It’s the pedestrian’s job to be observant and fast.
December 18, 2009 10:56am
Or it could create a lot of blind pedestrians…
December 20, 2009 2:35am
Wow, that’s really ridiculous… Not only are laser beams invisible unless they hit something (dust, fog, a wall, etc…), but just how exactly do you think you will make parts of the beam wider to make the image? Not to mention that having 50 high-power lasers at eye level presents some serious safety problems…
January 24, 2010 15:33pm
Well I think this is great. if it is doable, it would be awesome to see lots of these things in town. It would make it seem as a sci-fi town. Although the actual working of the devide is hard to tell by the image, if it does the job right, that’s all for the best.
- snipercup
January 26, 2010 6:08am
@snipercup But it won’t work. the device itself doesn’t function and the concept wouldn’t work. This is why concept artists should actually have to spend more than a minute thinking about their designs first. Its not enough to just draw a pretty picture. And really it took less than a minute to find the flaws in that design as I would imagine it did with everyone else who have left comments explaining what the creator was too lazy to figure out .
July 23, 2010 11:01am
besides, what if there are multiple lanes next to each other and the left lanes are ment for cars that will go left after the traffic light. Not all lanes are red at the same time so should they build multiple poles on the driveway where cars can crash into?
August 1, 2010 1:34am
#2–in answer to your question, they could use a very light atomized mist as is used in swamp coolers.
Or a fog machine, or a steam release, or….
August 18, 2010 17:06pm
do you even know how much power that would take up? :/
i wouldn’t want it in my city it’s not even eco-friendly not to mention it may blind the driver
October 18, 2010 0:04am
It would more useful, accepted, cost effective, practical and responsible if it was 1 foot in height, or less.
October 26, 2010 19:00pm
Even though this idea wouldn’t work as is, it makes people think. I think if we had the red lights flash quickly for the first second, it would grab more attention. It’s just a software change, with a big impact. BTW, I’m starting a new search engine… ya, I know. Check out dnouf dot com, it’s “found” backwards.
December 17, 2010 14:05pm
Uh, that’s not how lasers work. Duh. They are invisible in air. They are invisible until they strike something solid. You’d need to spray fog or something across the intersection.
Has the “designer” never once handled a laser pointer?
December 17, 2010 19:21pm
“Not only is it not doable and this is a classic case of an idiot unable to check if it’s even remotely doable at this stage, but it’s a bad idea if it was possible. It takes away visibility: swerving to save a crossing pedestrian’s life would be made more difficult by the animated assholes crossing, in case the car was late to apply the brakes. Then, the pedestrians would get a false sense of security, as if the thing is a wall and just cross without looking. Lastly, this just reduces visibility, and that’s just always a retarded thing on the road. What about approaching police vehicles with siren blaring ? They can’t make sure the road is clear before proceeding because of the fucking red light. Good job dumbshits.”
Agree 100%.
I just wonder how long he spent rendering that tower before someone told him it wouldn’t work. You don’t improve safety by creating more hazards. “Dumbshits” indeed haha…
December 26, 2010 11:51am
I think it’s a good idea.
To those saying that it wouldn’t work because of physics, you are mistaken. There are alarm clocks that do essentially the same thing with light.
To those saying that “it creates more hazards PEOPLE CLEARLY CANNOT SEE THROUGH THE LIGHT BECAUSE LIGHT IS OPAQUE FOR SOME REASON THESE DAYS” no, light has not been changed from light to solid.
A driver could see people walking through, it’s just that the initial giant red wall of light that has people walking back and forth catches your eyes more.
December 27, 2010 4:10am
1 problem, how do you do left/right turns
January 5, 2011 12:09pm
This might cause confusion and law enforcers could take advantage of this in some cases.
February 13, 2011 18:19pm
Dumb people, light does not obstruct vision. By your logic we desparately need overhangs above all roadways because sunlight will create a solid looking wall in front of you.
Also, as far as the left and right turns, this seems to have its applications in large cities, in which turns are either illegal against the light, or controlled by its own traffic light.
March 7, 2011 22:35pm
It would screw up right on reds.
March 9, 2011 11:03am
What an expensive, bitchy, stupid idea.
March 9, 2011 11:10am
@Ryan
The alarm clocks that do what your talking about use a swinging pendulum of lasers to project the light not just 2 strips either side beaming the light across. The pendulum would be the only way to create the varying sizes necessary to draw people walking across. Plus if emergency services try to cross these it’d be a bitch seeing if there were people on the other side. Its interesting but I think theres a fair few problems that would need to be sorted before this got anywhere near useable.
March 9, 2011 14:56pm
Quite possibly one of the worse ideas ever.
March 10, 2011 0:32am
they look kinda pricey…
March 10, 2011 2:29am
Stupid idea. What protects them from being vandalized… + Looks stupid
March 10, 2011 19:42pm
Ahem. Make a laser that slices the car in half if the driver attempts to cross. Problem solved.
March 17, 2011 15:33pm
Maybe if holographic imaging was not in its infancy.
March 27, 2011 11:38am
You know what is awesome about this? Nothing.
The plausibility/logistics of this is laughable. Moreover it eliminates the Social Darwin aspect of crosswalks.
April 20, 2011 11:13am
can we just put the lasers on some sharks and have freaking sharks with laser beams protecting our streets from overzealous drivers…?
June 25, 2011 7:03am
Are you all effing stupid, it’s not real. What a load of bollocks and lies.
June 25, 2011 7:03am
Stupidest idea Ive ever seen, My god, Im so thumbing this down on stumbler, this is beyond retarded.
June 26, 2011 4:51am
i know it looks really cool,but apart from the other points listed, how much would it cost to manufacture, install and run?
Who would want to get sprayed by a fine ( Laser reflecting) mist everytime you crossed the road?
Surely it would be better to stick with a tried and tested method and invest the money in research and development on the design and materials used on the front ends of cars,
Lets not forget we probably spent millions of pounds developing the system we already have!
Apart from Laser advertising bill-boards i cannot see an application suited to this!
June 26, 2011 17:20pm
So instead of being hit by a car, you’re hit with sharp slices of metal and chopped up passengers? No thanks, Ill take my chances rolling off the hood.
June 30, 2011 1:55am
OR, they could just use light walls from Portal 2 that are solid light and are transparent. Common sense people!
July 11, 2011 23:54pm
brilliant! something else for our cash strapped cities to waste the taxpayers money on.
July 12, 2011 0:55am
if the tech existed that made this possible, like holograms for instance, it would be presented to the public as a preventive tool, when in reality it would just end up being used for Advertising and Marketing. That’s just the way of things.
July 16, 2011 22:37pm
Its a good idea, in my oipinion. But how can the lasers create imgages in the center of the crosswalk with nothing more than straight lines? I’m thinking that all images would have to be in line form. And the fog comment also seems true. It’s possible to use steam I suppose but then that cuts down on vision. It doesn’t seem possible to make laser beams visible withoout using something that isn’t going to obstruct vision further. An illuminated neon power line in a low enough position would probably do just fine, then perhaps we could get rid of those unsiightly lights. Perhaps a number of fiber-optic wires?
July 17, 2011 11:02am
@#everyonewhothoughtthisisnotpossible,
has anyone noticed that people typically hate physics until they want to sound smart or use it in an argument? I particularly love it when their attack includes not researching an issue. This is entirely possible. We even have “touchable” holograms that you can feel and move with your hands (a la minority report). It’s still in its infancy but is possible. a simple search will show you what im talking about.
The main issue is like several people said, an obstruction of vision.
Or maybe even more important that is personal responsibility and having the wherewithal to do things like crossing the street
July 17, 2011 19:02pm
This is a poor application of lasers.
It would be much better to have a disintegrator ray at every light and if anyone tries to run a red light they get zapped. Two words: Problem solved.
For real, though. Several times I or someone I know has almost been hit by a car running a red light. This idea still caters to the drivers of the car when it’s my opinion that more power should be given to the people walking. How about get rid of a majority of roads and make larger areas just for walking? How about we improve our public transit system to get less cars on the road? Hell, just give me a freakin’ bridge up and over – or under – the road.
I swear that monkeys built this freakin’ city. No forethought.
July 20, 2011 17:08pm
this is a very bad idea. it would not work in any city.
July 21, 2011 1:20am
Another impossible design from a concept designer. Learn how light works, man.
August 6, 2011 19:45pm
Or, just bumper cars for everyone .. .
August 7, 2011 2:05am
This might seem like a cool idea, but if you’ve ever driven in a city then you’d know how goddamn annoying pedestrians are. They don’t need any more help mucking up traffic.
August 8, 2011 3:02am
would be easier to have hydraulic bollards raise to obstruct traffic, then they could get stuck in the up position and have super fun trafffic jam powers.
Then to further complicate issues you could swing on the laser barrier and make the beams shine into peoples eyes, blinding pedestrians and automobile operators as well.
The only thing this idea is missing is some common sense.
August 8, 2011 3:03am
Oooo I had another idea, it should be a huge automated LOOM!
August 8, 2011 13:22pm
What about right turns on red? I agree that having these high powered lasers at eye level poses some safety issues.
August 8, 2011 21:57pm
Love it.
Obviously the best way to fix the Invisible laser problem is by mounting fog generators at the intersection.
Would have to also have lit path markers on the road to help the pedestrians across the road in the fog.
Here’s a better design. Take the licence off any driver that is unable to comprehend the concept of Red Lights.
August 13, 2011 4:02am
This is only 10 different types of stupid.
August 16, 2011 15:46pm
Better still make it impossible for a car to run a red light by building a sensor into all cars that stops the car if the light is red and wont allow it to move again until the light goes green. Speed limits could also be enforced in the same way.
August 20, 2011 1:30am
another way to waste taxpayer money!! YAY
August 21, 2011 14:18pm
People pretty much have the “crossing the street” thing figured out,. This would be a waste of money and a drain on City,State and County budgets,,,, and all for what?…helping people cross the street?!…people are starving in this world…the money could be better spent!
August 27, 2011 0:58am
I think its a cool concept, if we ever develop a way to make exposure to lasers safe…
August 27, 2011 17:45pm
Just wanted to correct a grammar pet peeve in case no one else has. It’s “would have run”.
September 23, 2011 14:13pm
Wow. Well, that’s nice and I’m sure it would work well, but it looks massively expensive when you think about installing it at crosswalks all across a city. Maybe it would be cheaper to put up signs reminding people to look both ways before they cross.
October 6, 2011 3:35am
Are there so many people getting hit in crosswalks, that, even if this would work, was worth the cost to put in place?
October 6, 2011 7:13am
You can take it a step further, and make some money by having the laser animations doing some graphic commercials…
October 18, 2011 4:23am
Everyone saying this is a good idea must misunderstand how crosswalks at traffic light controlled intersections work. Pedestrians cross on GREEN lights. Meaning the traffic in the concept photo would be stopped for the red light anyways. This is really only a precaution against drivers that might run the light (which shouldn’t have their license anyways), or left turning traffic that have a green light…on that note, how is a left turning vehicle supposed to make a good decision if there’s red lasers giving him tunnel vision.
The designer of this concept must be assuming that all vehicles drive straight all the time, traffic lights don’t mean anything to the average driver, and that the only reason a car should stop is for pedestrians. Good try though.
November 11, 2011 18:18pm
This is nonsense right from the get go. Whether it might improve safety or not is quite irrelevant, because it’s not even possible in the first place. Lasers cannot form real visible images in empty space as they suggest. (Not with any technology presently known anyway.)
November 13, 2011 3:05am
If it’s red what about the colorblind people?
November 23, 2011 19:00pm
obviously some king of fog or mist will need to be implemented which will make the visibility problem even worse.
November 28, 2011 19:43pm
Great for an initial concept. As technology improves many of the comments raised here will be addresed.
Perhaps an advanced form of holography, that is also responsive to those who are colorblind and is also weather proof to some degree.
November 29, 2011 21:22pm
How about lasers to zap jay walkers?