The Issues

When our Network Optmisation team did its study of Onewa Road, they found that the existing pedestrian crossing technology installed at the two mid-block signalised crossings by St Mary's Catholic Church and Northcote College (at Wernam Place) is out of date and not working properly to accommodate the large number of pedestrians that use them, especially on weekends and at school drop-off/pickup times.

There have been several instances of the signal change ending too early when there are still people trying to cross. Drivers have also complained of having the opposite issue at off-peak times, where the signal change is held unnecessarily long and there are clearly no pedestrians trying to cross.

Our Proposed Solution

To resolve these issues, we're proposing to upgrade these two crossings with pedestrian detection technology. Pedestrian detection technology uses special advanced cameras and sensors to detect the number of people on foot waiting to cross automatically when one of them presses the button.

If someone were to press the button and leave the crossing before the signal change, the pedestrian detection technology will sense there's no longer anybody there and would cancel the signal change before it happens so that cars don't get unnecessarily stopped.

However, if the pedestrian detection technology were to sense a large crowd of people trying to cross (such as several students crossing at the same time after school), it would hold the signal change for longer so that the crowd has more time to cross together.

This more advanced technology will help to ensure people on foot have as much time as they need to cross Onewa Road and that vehicles on the road are only stopped for as long as necessary.

Next Up: Northcote College & St Mary's Church Bus Stops Changes

Click here or the button below to see the next set of changes we're proposing to optimise Onewa Road.

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