Time rushes by and the world insists on barging in on the idle thoughts of an idle fellow...my series on Berlin may have to be cut short.
Before we move on, what is it with the traffic lights in Berlin? I'm not talking about the weird graphics above I'm talking about the Triffid noises they make. I'm serious, the traffic lights make these clicking noises - just like Triffids. I suppose it must be to help blind people or something - but they seemed to make the noise all the time, not just when it was safe to cross.
Anyone, er, enlighten me?
Those little traffic light men are completely iconic in Berlin - the traffic lights in "East" Berlin have them (and trams) and the "West" Berlin ones are just bog-standard pedestrian crossing lights. You can even get T-shirts with the little green man on them... Odd but true...
ReplyDeleteFor people who are hard of seeing or old. It is not only the clicking but the frequency of the clicks that say when the light is about to change, so the person can prepare themselves to cross, or hurry up a little to get over to the other side.
ReplyDeleteOhhhh...we spent ages fiddling about, trying to understand why sometimes it would click faster or slower...
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the BBC Day of the Triffids? Why did they use the same sound? And in connection with blindness too...