While we wrote about Australians trying to keep distracted, texting pedestrians safe from harm by installing pavement traffic lights a while ago, in Lisbon, Portugal Smart and the advertising agency BBDO Germany sucessfully ran a project that was set up to help pedestrians wait for the walk signal, as many of them get bored waiting or are in a hurry, so they cross the red light and potentially put themselves in danger.

The creative teams came up with a concept of an interactive dancing traffic light manikin that draws attention of the people, helps them wait and observe the manikin move rather than walk through the red light. Members of the public were invited to join the project by entering a special booth that was set up near a busy intersection. They were filmed dancing away, while each of their dances was transferred to the traffic light in real time and seen by pedestrians waiting to cross the street.

Reactions were very positive and waiting for the green light suddenly didn't feel so dull anymore. At the moment it seems this kind of installation won't be seen anywhere anymore, as the project was only part of Smart's marketing campaign at the launch of Smart ForTwo and Smart ForFour; but we sure wish they kept the project going and expanded it to other cities as well. Afterall, who would mind having dancing traffic lights to bright up the day?