App turns phone into a crosswalk
Posted Jul 23, 2015 12:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In the first five months of this year, a pedestrian has been hit by a vehicle in Calgary 194 times; some entrepreneurs from San Francisco are hoping their new app will help lower those numbers.
PedSafe, already in the US and attempting to make inroads into Canada, is an app where your smartphone screen flashes similar to that of crosswalk lights.
It can be seen from three to five blocks away to alert drivers someone wants to cross.
Co-creator Dan Voreyer, a former fire chief, said it also helps pedestrians concentrate because they can’t text while the app is open.
“There are statistics that once every eight minutes in the United States a person gets hit by a car, so it’s a chronic problem and a huge issue in a number of cities and we’re just hoping to make a difference,” Voreyer said. “The symbol that we have on it is internationally known, the pedestrian crossing symbol is known throughout the world for traffic.”
According to the Calgary Police Service, of the 194 pedestrian vs. vehicle collisions recorded from January to May, 159 have caused injury and three have resulted in death.
