Active walkman sign could reduce road accidents

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Monday February 14, 2011 00:00

Active walkman sign is a pilot project that is spearheaded by Amotech Investments, and was launched by the company together with Department of Road Safety and Transport and Gaborone City Council in Bontleng last week. Active walkman sign, is a hazard light sign that is mounted along zebra crossings to amplify the signs on the road and to alert drivers of pedestrians while they are still far from the crossing. Kenneth Mtyutu, a road safety education officer in the company said they have considered mounting the hazard light sign after a lot of motorists raised concerns that they could not see zebra crossing signs well in time, and that it is difficult to see the marks on the road. 'So we wanted to have a hazard light that would warn the driver that there is something happening ahead and should therefore slow down,' he said.

He said although the sign may appear like a robot, it is only a hazard light that warns drivers of pedestrians or any moving object that would be crossing the road at that time. 'It could be a pedestrian, cyclists, dogs, and any other moving object,' he said. Mtyutu said that in the long run they would want to mount active walkman signs along zebra crossings in all towns and cities around the country to help in the fight against road accidents should the council approve their project.

How does the sign work?Amos Fungameli, a technician at Amotech Investments said that the sign is not just an ordinary one, but uses a solar panel, motion sensor, a radio and a LED lamp. The battery takes eight hours to be charged by the solar panel and can last more than week without been recharged. He said this is a project that relies very much on renewable energy since it uses the sun to operate.

There is also no need to dig across the road as information is communicated through a radio. He said that the sensor would pick any moving object standing next to the road, and would communicate the information through the radio with the other lights on the other side of the road so that they both warn the driver at the same time.

However, one would need to stand in the surveillance point that is marked next to the sign. The hazard light would go on for 25 seconds to allow for people to cross the road.