The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is using technology and a little gallows humor to get pedestrians to pay attention while crossing Downtown streets.
For the past few weeks, improvisational actors dressed as the Grim Reaper and zombies have wandered the Golden Triangle surprising pedestrians who are looking at their cell phones rather than watching traffic around them. In addition, through a special program called geofencing, pedestrians viewing certain browsers at busy intersections receive a push alert on their cell phones to look up.
Read the complete article at Pittsburgh Post
Our take: While the campaign gets points for creativity, cities like Pittsburgh should be careful to target their safety messages at drivers, who are more likely to be responsible for dangerous crashes, and to not send the message that walking is an inherently scary choice.