Context: In Québec, drivers often fail to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. This problem has victimized over 200 people, in the past few years. Strategy: Get drivers to stop at crosswalks, and at the same time, raise drivers’ awareness of the fact that crosswalks exist to protect pedestrians.

Using a sensor system, the yellow crosswalk lines automatically rise up when an oncoming car is detected – but only if someone is waiting to cross. By doing so, it helps drivers understand that crosswalks are there to protect pedestrians

This event targeted Quebecois drivers. The aim was to raise awareness about the important role that these crosswalks have in physically protecting pedestrians. This was done by forcing drivers to stop at the crosswalk, as the yellow lines literally, physically, rose up, and created a barrier to stop cars from passing, allowing the pedestrian to cross safely.

To promote the impacts from this initiative, we favoured using video, as it allowed us to raise awareness through clips and images of the stunt. We used social media to spread awareness, as it was the ideal method to coordinate our outreach and broadcast during the fall (October 2019), where the accident rates involving pedestrians tend to increase.

The Crossing Fence generated 26 million impressions and over 20 000 positive reactions on social media. The operation reached 85% in awareness after one month, in Quebec. 48% of the motorists exposed to the Crossing Fence said they were willing to stop at crosswalks when they saw a pedestrian wanting to cross the street. The government of Quebec will use the Crossing Fence as an educational tool everywhere in the province. Because this is a worldwide problem, many other countries have shown interest in recreating the same initiative.