A specially designed interactive digital billboard was consecutively displayed near busy pedestrian crossings all over the Paris area. Equipped with a movement detector, speaker, and camera, the smart billboard made the sound of squealing tires whenever a pedestrian attempted to cross the road while the “red man” (no crossing sign) was on. The frightened faces of the disobedient pedestrians were projected directly onto the billboard and shown alongside the caption: “Don’t risk looking death in the face. Check the lights and cross safely”.

QR Codes on the billboard led the pedestrians to video messages of real crash survivors. They could then pledge not to cross on red light anymore and contribute their picture to the campaign.

The billboards of this campaign are the instant transformation of "consumer generated images" into personalized digital billboards.

French pedestrians are particularly undisciplined and careless. Despite many awareness campaigns, pedestrian casualties remain at an unprecedented level.French pedestrians are particularly undisciplined and careless. Despite many awareness campaigns, pedestrian casualties remain at an unprecedented level.

A scientists' French team led a study which demonstrates that the behavior of pedestrians is very different according to countries. French people are among the most undisciplined pedestrians. According to Cedric Sueur, biologist CNRS at the University of Strasbourg and co-author of the study, to cross in the red light would be a question of culture.

As an example, during the study field, 41,9 % of the French people crossed illegally against only 2,1 % of the Japanese.

Source : http://www.lindependant.fr/2017/02/15/traverser-au-feu-rouge-serait-une-question-de-culture,2291362.php