Department of Transportation

In order to promote humanistic traffic and maintain pedestrian safety, in 2012, the Traffic Engineering Office, Taipei City Government (hereunder referred to as TEO) started implementing pedestrian scrambles at 12 locations having extremely heavy intersecting human and vehicular traffic, such as the Aiguo E. Rd. and Hangzhou S. Rd. Intersection, (please refer to the attachment for details). As of the end of 2012, the number of pedestrian scrambles implemented at intersections throughout the City reached 160.
“Pedestrian scrambles” refer to separation of the green time for vehicles and pedestrians, i.e. the green light for pedestrians going in all directions are simultaneously on, while, at the same time, the red light for vehicles traveling in all directions are also switched on accordingly. The installation of pedestrian scrambles can relieve confrontations between intersecting vehicles and pedestrians. On the other hand, it can also result in negative impacts, such as less green light frequency for vehicles, longer pedestrian waiting times, and shorter pedestrian crossing times. By taking into account the overall factors covering turning traffic volume, intersection service standards, pedestrian traffic volume and intersection geometric conditions prior to implementing pedestrian scrambles, TEO would give a comprehensive evaluation and consider the positive and negative impacts on both pedestrians and traffic flow before making a judgment on the necessity for implementation according to traffic safety requirements.
Pedestrian scrambles newly added in 2012 are mostly located near schools, for example, Aiguo E. Rd. and Hangzhou S. Rd near Zhong-Zheng Junior High School, Dingzhou Rd. and Quanzhou Street near Yingqiao Elementary School, and Huanshan Rd. and Wenhu Street near Takming University of Science and Technology, etc. Pedestrian scrambles were also installed at intersections having heavy foot traffic, such as Ruiguang Rd. and Gangqian Rd. of Neihu Science Park, and Sec. 3, Tingzhou Rd. and Lane 24, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd. at the NTU/Gongguan commercial district. The implementation hours are during periods of heavy pedestrian traffic to reduce the serious impact on vehicular traffic flow. A sign stating the implementation times is provided at each pedestrian scramble intersection; pedestrian crossing lines indicating the implementation times have also been drawn on the road. Pedestrian scrambles implemented at intersections having audible pedestrian signals use special cricket calls to help the visually-impaired to cross the intersection. Furthermore, at intersections where no diagonal lines are available due to longer distances or special road surfaces, pedestrians are asked to cross the road carefully in sections, in order to maintain traffic safety.
TEO urges pedestrians and drivers to strictly follow traffic light signals when going through intersections. At intersections, pedestrians shall also walk through the crossings as quickly as possible. TEO will continue to evaluate the necessity and add pedestrian scrambles accordingly, so that traffic safety can be enhanced.

2013-03-18