‘Puffins’ Popping Up Around Town

Following the successful trial of the ‘Pedestrian User Friendly Intelligent’ (PUFFIN) crossing system in Railway Avenue, Hutt City Council is installing the system at six more sites.

Traffic engineer Wayne King says the trial showed a 60 percent improvement in legal crossing behaviour at the Railway Avenue crossing and pedestrians found the system easy to use.

“Three of the new PUFFIN sites are by schools, so this is a great way to improve the safety of students as they travel to and from school.”

The PUFFINS are set to get even better for both pedestrians and motorists thanks to the addition of extra features over the next three months.

“We’re installing sensors to monitor activity on the crossing. This means pedestrian crossing time can be varied to allow a safe crossing time for slower pedestrians or a reduced crossing time for faster ones,” says Wayne.

“The variable clearance time feature will allow traffic to start up early if the pedestrians have finished crossing and the call cancellation feature will cancel the crossing request if the pedestrian leaves.

“We’ll also be able to monitor the signals 24/7 and make adjustments to each signal remotely, and we’ll get instant notification of any faults.”

ENDS

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