Portimão pedestrian crossings
Smart lighting system optimises safety and costs
Located in the charming Algarve, the city of Portimão’s goal is to facilitate a healthy and active life style.
Every year, the citys’ populations swells by hundreds of thousands of visitors in the tourist season. With so many people out at night for dinner, to practise sport, to catch up with friends or for a simple stroll to admire the views, the streets and roads are extremely busy.
To ensure the safety and well-being of its citizens and the many tourists, the city is always looking to enhance and integrate safe and sustainable transportation options.
Enhance safety at high-risk junctions
Aware that pedestrians comprise around 20% of all road traffic deaths in EU countries and that most crashes occur at pedestrian crossings1, the city of Portimão recently undertook a plan to ensure safety and accessibility for all at these junctions.
After identifying the most critical pedestrian crossings, they opted to improve the lighting to increase the visibility of pedestrians at night. They chose the NEOS system, specifically designed by Schréder to optimise safety at pedestrian crossings.
NEOS, the ideal lighting system for pedestrian crossings
The NEOS lighting system integrates lenses that have been carefully designed to ensure that
- the crossing is distinguishable and can be clearly seen from a distance;
- pedestrians are highly visible when approaching and crossing the road;
- glare is minimised for drivers.
It delivers the necessary vertical levels to ensure a sharp contrast with the lighting nearby and the horizontal levels for uniformity on the road.
The NEOS floodlights are installed on poles, painted with yellow and black horizontal stripes to further enhance visibility and alert motorists that a crossing is ahead.
Reduce unnecessary lighting
When the streets and roads are calmer, and the pedestrian crossings are only being used sporadically - if at all, it made sense to the city to reduce the lighting on these pedestrian crossings to save energy and costs. After all, the luminaires lighting the streets ensure a safe and well-lit environment for traffic.
Fitted with a POHO device, the NEOS floodlights are connected to the Schréder EXEDRA lighting management system so that the city can dim the light whenever it wants. The POHO, specifically designed for luminaires that cannot integrate a 7-pin NEMA plug, also integrates a motion detection sensor.
When the pedestrian crossing is not being used, the light is dimmed by 80%. When the sensor detects a pedestrian approaching, it triggers the floodlight to increase the light to 100% so that they can safely cross the road. When no movement has been detected for 30 seconds, the light level goes back down to 20%.
These pre-defined levels can of course be adapted at any moment by the city to meet real-time needs.
Because the community matters!
In the first phase, the city installed this system on seven high-risk pedestrian crossings. Impressed by the efficiency and feedback from the local residents, the system was rolled out on a further 13 crossings in priority zones.
This investment has increased safety, especially on high-volume pedestrian routes, and is completely in line with the city’s objective to encourage more sustainable travel and infrastructure.
1: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/system/files/2022-03/FF_pedestrians_20220209.pdf