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AssetID: 40523305

Headline: Life After Lockdown: Road Crossing Button Activated By Foot Not Hands

Caption: With a new attitude to surface hygiene – a design partnership has developed a pedestrian button that you kick instead of activating with your hand. According to Foreward, an Australian design thinktank by Greenpoint Media and ODO, the Dropkick button can be retrofitted with current traffic light poles to keep any upgrades minimally invasive and cost efficient. The project team believe the concept would help prevent infection in future pandemics. They explain: “There was a general consensus that these buttons were not hygenic. The negative connotation is further amplified with the rampant rise of COVID-19 and the growing obsession with public hygiene. As reported in the Journal, studies show that the surfaces of these buttons have been breeding grounds for bacteria with swabs showing significant colonies of bacteria dwelling on them. Even active wiping down of these buttons may prove to be futile with the bacteria becoming more dominant if they survive. Reappropriating this to the context of COVID-19, traces of COVID virus were found on stainless steel surfaces even after 72 hours after contact. “ The team also reference that some crossing buttons do not influence the flow of traffic but are merely a placebo for those waiting to cross. They say: “You’d imagine that in the 21st century that that technology would advance beyond needing to operate buttons. In fact, some cities are already putting in place sensor activated pedestrian crossing buttons. It was also discovered that many of these buttons don't actually contribute to the timing or speed of activating a crossing as most of them work to a pre-determined schedule during peak hours, making them placebo buttons as quoted in the Guardian article. Could it be that these buttons exist for the sole purpose of satisfying the human need of feeling as though they have actively done something to reduce waiting times, much like the “close” button in elevators. We suspect that there could not be a replacement for the tactility of a physical button. Hence ODO and Greenpoint have jointly deviced a pedestrian button that can be kicked to make pedestrian buttons handsfree, in hope to reduce the transmission of germs while allowing these buttons to carry-on their placebo functions.”

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