Jarring Jaywalk

How would you have the road vibrate without compromising the structural integrity of the pavement? It sounds like you want to start an earthquake...not so safe either. I also think that a lot of people jaywalk because the wait times between cross signals is much longer comparatively than the walk signal is, and people don't really want to wait for that long, because it might make them late. Maybe instead of punishing people who try to walk not during the crosswalk signal, maybe make an option so people would rather wait than cross, or would make them less annoyed with the prospect of waiting.

Excellent idea. I think maybe changing the results to not include the vibrations but rather a very obvious use of lights or sounds might be good. Vibrations seem really difficult to implement on concrete since it's so rigid.

I would just keep walking. I think the idea is really good, but the implementation doesn't have a big enough dis-incentive to potential jaywalkers. I'd be concerned that vibrations wouldn't necessarily be recognized because when you're jaywalking, you're usually moving quickly, so your feet might not stay on the ground long enough for you to perceive the vibrations.

Personally, if I'm in a rush, I would keep walking. Think of how the crosswalk already beeps when the time to cross is appropriate. Having vibrations in the ground can be a potential hazard (cause imbalance while walking) and then it would be even a greater threat if they cannot pick themselves up and get out of the road in time. Also, if the sound is too loud, yes it would get out attention, but at the same time for people who were making an honest mistake/not intending to jaywalk, a large noise might frighten and confuse them. However, I did appreciate the steps that you outlined you would take during the experimental phase of this project.

To clarify, I think the team was thinking of a pressure pad with vibrations similar to those in a haunted house. Just to clarify.

Is it necessarily safe to try to "startle" jaywalkers into behaving? To me I would feel this is further motivation to remove myself from the sidewalk as quickly as possible; if anything I would be more likely to jaywalk so I wouldn't have to deal with the startling stimulation on the sidewalk.
I think a better approach than trying to strong arm people into not jaywalking is to place more trust in them. Give them more information about the time remaining, and give them a longer chance to cross. If pedestrians have proper communication and accommodation I think they are more likely to behave rationally.

This is a good attempt to use embodied ideas to influence the situation, but I feel like the problem of jaywalking in this situation may be a bit harder to fix. Personally, if I was going to jaywalk before the noise was implemented, I would still do it afterwards. This is because I, as a CMU student have crossed that street enough to know the light patterns. I know that after the walk signal ends, cars from Morewood get to go first. If no one is turning right (happens quite often), then I can cross because everyone else is at a red light. Thus, when I'm looking to cross, my focus is solely on the edge of Morewood. The added sounds may affect how I jaywalk, but in the end my decision to jaywalk would be based on other factors.

While I think this is a good attempt at solving the problem of jaywalking, there are possible unforeseen consequences that you might want to consider. The beeping and flashing light could be potentially distractive for drivers on the road; if they do not know that this system is implemented and someone happens to be jaywalking when they arrive at the intersection, they might be startled and lose focus on driving. Furthermore, they could confuse the beeping with another car beeping or other alarm sounds. For the jaywalkers themselves, they might be inclined to run across to minimize the time of beeping and become even more careless.

This definitely seems like it will get the attention of someone jaywalking, but I'm worried it may lead to more safety issues. I could see the vibrations startling someone unaware of the situation, which could be quite dangerous in the middle of the street.

Thanks for all the good feedback! It is good to point out that many jaywalkers would ignore our implementation and keep walking; those bad habits can be hard to fix. However, the target of our implementation is the group of people who jaywalk without knowing it (ex. if they are texting while walking, or following another jaywalker, or just really really tired), so the goal of our project is to bring those jaywalkers to attention.

However, since many of you have discouraged the use of vibrations, I think our group should consider that option.

These comments are all very useful, but I just want to touch on some aspects that might have been misunderstood- the beeping would alarm once you have stepping from the sidewalk and onto the street during a no-walking signal - not from the sidewalk itself while you are on it.

I was wondering myself if I would just keep walking anyways, and maybe I would the first time, but eventually it could stop people from making future attempts at it (they had to cross the street with the annoying sounds going from where they are stepping directly up at them, and would rather wait a little then having to experience that again). I consider this only because of experience with the beeping that sounds in a car if you have not buckled your seatbelt- and the effectiveness of that system.

It is true that the deeper issue is that people do not want to wait, and if they see an opportunity to run across then they will take it, even though it could be potentially dangerous.

Maybe this system would not be helpful for the Morewood/Forbes crosswalk- since the reason that so many people jaywalk is because they know exactly when to time it so that they can jaywalk. Perhaps at other high frequency intersections in larger cities this system would be more effective.

I feel like a system such as the one described above would at minimum be reasonably efficient at cutting down on Jaywalking. People who are convinced they want to Jaywalk still will, irrespective of any such system. But people on the fence could possibly be guilted/shocked out of doing something dangerous by something like this.

That said, a jarring sound and vibrating street could be extremely disorienting for many. Coming home at 2 AM after studying at Hunt for 8 hours straight, tired and hungry, hearing something like that would drive anyone completely up the wall. Furthermore, something like this could actually be dangerous for people with anger/tension/nervousness or heart related issues.

Many of the comments seem to have to do with worries about safety since we plan to implement vibrations; we see your concerns, and would definitely take these into account. We planned to find the combination of sound, light, and vibrations that would have the best effect, and perhaps just sound and light would work great! We do understand that this system may not deter all jaywalkers, but we hope that it will have some impact by drawing both the jaywalker's, and other pedestrians', attention. Thank you for the helpful feedback everyone-- If anyone has any ideas to improve the effectiveness of our system, please feel free to let us know!