Walk, Don't Walk, Dance!

September 17, 2014 3:58 PM

The Smart car folks have come up with an idea to make crosswalks a little safer (SLYT, Smart Blue), the Dancing Traffic Light.
posted by agatha_magatha (19 comments total)

This is awesome. I love strange little art pieces like this. Thanks for posting :)
posted by Strass at 4:08 PM on September 17, 2014

Neat idea. I would worry about people doing the moonwalk or running man though.
posted by dagosto at 4:09 PM on September 17, 2014

I really like fun "social experiments" like this, but the final product always seems over-scripted or fake. Like everyone pointing and laughing at the little box? I feel like the camera man probably told them to do that. The people dancing? Same thing.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but that's also how I feel about those "Gotcha!!" prank videos, usually involving a laugh track.
posted by bbqturtle at 4:19 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

Well it's a fun project, but it obviously doesn't scale at all, so it's really just an ad for Smart instead of anything to do with traffic safety. Intersections with music and dancing would get old super fast.
posted by zachlipton at 4:25 PM on September 17, 2014

that's also how I feel about those "Gotcha!!" prank videos, usually involving a laugh track.

If you're in Montreal and someone crosses your path with a large view-blocking plank of anything, you should assume something behind that plank has been switched. If somehow you miss his cue, be sure to look straight into the camera an enunciate carefully, so the audience can understand your "Tabarnac!" even without the sound.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:26 PM on September 17, 2014 [6 favorites]

Well it's a fun project, but it obviously doesn't scale at all

Actually, it could easily scale with one dancing-person-feed being streamed to as many displays as they wanted. The dancing person booth could move from city to city to maintain participation. It'd even continue to be great advertising for Smart as an incentive for them to maintain it.

I feel like the camera man probably told them to do that. The people dancing? Same thing.

Well, they did supposedly walk into a giant dance-box in which a screen flashed at them "GET READY TO DANCE."
posted by cmoj at 4:43 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

Metafilter Success Rating* System^®
-----------------------------------------

Visibility:.............. 5 (excellent)
Safety:................. 2
Danceability:......... 3
Blueness:.............. 1
Display wizardry:.... 1 (poor)
=====================
Total:.................. It'll never fly

*May not apply in your country or jurisdiction. Please read and understand state regulations before playing.
posted by sneebler at 5:18 PM on September 17, 2014 [3 favorites]

Actually, it could easily scale with one dancing-person-feed being streamed to as many displays as they wanted.

Yes, it can literally scale in terms of the number of displays. It can't scale in terms of people are unlikely to be that interested in the thing at the 15th crosswalk they encounter in a day and so won't get an incentive not to jaywalk. I also feel like the music is a big part of what keeps it fresh, and pumping the streets full of dance music in the name of pedestrian safety is a nonstarter in most communities.

Again, fun little project, but little actually to do with keeping people from crossing against the light.
posted by zachlipton at 5:25 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

So, something that's more distracting for motorists combined with dubious novelty value (how long will people keep watching if it's always dancing?) and locating the problem of pedestrian-vehicle collisions firmly on the side of pedestrians jaywalking rather than, say, cars turning right without looking properly?

It just seems like while they made something fun, they also made a bunch of bad public policy assumptions because they didn't bother to actually work with people who do this stuff for a living and instead just went with what sounded best to a car company.
posted by klangklangston at 5:38 PM on September 17, 2014 [8 favorites]

I didn't expect this to be seen as a genuine solution to jaywalking--it is amusing advertising and a fun intersection (see what I did there?) of interests I have (marketing/transportation).
posted by agatha_magatha at 6:10 PM on September 17, 2014

I was impressed that they managed to with the first two sentences:

• Lie about collision statistics; 70% of pedestrians killed by cars are at non-intersections. [PDF]
• Focus the blame for traffic collisions entirely on pedestrians.
• Completely remove any suggestion that drivers or even cars are involved in pedestrians being killed at intersections.
• Suggest that pedestrians who are killed in the road are there because they are too impatient to wait for the light, as opposed to - for instance - being legally there and hit by inattentive or distracted drivers.

The framing is: welp, pedestrians just dart out into the roadway because they're tired of waiting, and then something - we have no idea what this thing is, and could not even suggest what this thing could possibly be - then ups and kills them. By the way, buy our cars.

It's like a cigarette company arranging to cheer up all the patients who are bored during chemotherapy with a dancing camel mascot. But the dancing is pretty cool, so.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 6:37 PM on September 17, 2014 [27 favorites]

I agree with everything Homeboy Trouble said but at the same time, people here in Chicago do not, as a rule, wait for the white man to appear. Every day, the groupthink and second-guessing tear me apart as I stand there like a dork. I'm not exaggerating, I actually stand there wondering if there's something wrong with me. I don't like that the solution is to infantalize us even further with every opportunity taken to stick a flashing screen in front of our face for us to stare at to shut us up. But at the same time the video itself was cute. It would have been cuter without the patronizing statistics.
posted by bleep at 7:08 PM on September 17, 2014

Bleep, Seattle is over here waiting for you (and the white man).
posted by tychotesla at 8:01 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

OMG, my people. I love it.
posted by bleep at 10:24 PM on September 17, 2014

As my Texan uncle is fond of saying: "A pedestarian always has the right of way, but he's a damned fool to insist upon it."
posted by Graygorey at 11:27 PM on September 17, 2014 [1 favorite]

I wanna see the parts with people dancing lewdly that didn't make the cut. No Walking Man twerking? That would make people stop.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 4:10 AM on September 18, 2014

There's a crosswalk two blocks up from a long frustrating light just where the road opens up and folks punch it for a half mile to the next light. (been accidents/deaths) So another light would not make sense but what to do? The put holders with hand held orange flags one each side of the crosswalk.

The one time I grabbed two flags and did a great silly dance waving all the way across, no one was around or saw me.

Need more dancing in the streets.

Now music (that I like) would be welcome at crosswalks!
posted by sammyo at 6:47 AM on September 18, 2014

It may just be a form of confirmation bias, but for the last little while it has been interesting to note, as I've cycled around my city, the large number of Smart cars driven by incredibly stupid people.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:39 AM on September 18, 2014

So my first thought was that a Smart Car must have been involved in some horrific pedestrian related accident. :/ Props to Homeboy Trouble for the stats and critical breakdown.

I kinda want to dance in a booth like this tho.
posted by purple_bird at 10:22 AM on September 18, 2014 [1 favorite]