THE JOURNAL REPORT: INNOVATIONS IN TRANSPORTATION

ACCIDENT PREVENTION

As bikes become more common, one growing hazard is cars making right turns and colliding with cyclists who are going straight. Portland, Ore., installed a one-of-a-kind active warning sign last fall, requiring drivers turning right at a busy intersection to look over their shoulders and yield to cyclists passing through in the bike lane. The sign, triggered by a sensor, ashes only when a bike is approaching.

ANIMAT ANIMATED PEDESTRIAN SIGN SIGNALS

On c certain pedestrian signals in Mexico, a li little green man pops up below a co countdown timer, letting walkers know they can cross the street. The man is also animated: As the clock counts down to red, he moves progressively faster, hurrying his way from a casual stride to an allout sprintperhaps implying that you should do the same.

Co er Congestion is climbing along with the number of ca Signs and intersections can be confusing. ng. cars. An bicycle commuting is up all over. And New kinds of trafc signs and signals ca help keep it all owing. Here are some can notable innovations.
Mr. Kassel is a writer in New York. He can be reached at reports@wsj.com.

OR AN INDICATOR FOR EVERY LANE

t No working models yet exist of this three-arrow LED traffic device, designed to replace the standard circular traffic lights in place at most intersections. Patented by Benjamin Glover, a traffic manager for DeKalb County, Ga., the apparatus layers red, yellow and green arrows in single units, with each unit corresponding to a specic lane, which he believes will be less confusing than conventional signals.for DeKalb County, ers ers Georgia, the apparatus layers ws red, yellow and green arrows h in single housing units, with th each unit corresponding with a specic lane.

A visual hybrid of a yield and a stop e sign, this signinvented by venture e capitalist Gary Lauder but not in use nteryetis meant to be placed at the intersection of a major and minor road, where where majo ro major-road drivers are oft for jor-road rive orced major-road drivers are often forced make unnecessar ake unnecessar nece ops ops to make unnecessary stops when nobo is arou nobody is around In the event body ound he nobody around. that minor-road driver waiting that a minor oad driver is waiting inor oad iver wait g itin to turn: Be civil and let hi in If no one turn: B urn: vil d vi him in. is there keep drivingsaving time here there, and ga and gas.

Cyclists coming to a red light in the absence of waiting vehicles dont know whether theyve triggered the sensor in the pavement that will turn the light green. In Portland, blue LED indicator lights f installed at the start of ts this summer let cyclists know that the sensor has has nce nce and detected their presence and the signal will turn green soon.

THE WAITING GAME

Taxi! Taxi! Oh, Never Mind. Ill Just Use My Phone.

How mobile technology is changing the way cabs and customers connect
BY TED MANN Hailing a cab may soon become just a fading memory of an inefficient past. Thats the promise of a new wave of mobile applications working their way through regulatory issues. The apps all work slightly differently, but in general they allow smartphone users to see where available cabs are, alert drivers that they need a ride, and store creditcard or debit-card information so they can pay for the trip without exchanging money or swiping a card. The act of physically hailing a cab on the street could be a rarity in maybe as soon as five years, says Ron Linton, chairman of the District of Columbias Taxicab Commission. again to book an available cab. Hailo says it has signed up 2,500 prospective users among cabdrivers in New York City and more than 800 drivers in Chicago. But before Hailo and similar apps can take off in those cities and elsewhere in the U.S., they need to iron out some issues with regulators. For instance, Hailo and Get Taxi Inc., which offers a similar service, have reconfigured their apps in an effort to gain approval to enter the most highly regulated taxi markets, notably New York, which bars its 13,000 yellow cabs from using dispatch systems to connect riders and drivers. The rejiggered versions alert drivers to the presence of potential customers but dont allow the two parties to contact each other, which would violate the dispatch ban. Meanwhile, regulators across the country are in the early stages of examining rules written, for the most part, long before smartphones were widely available, to see if there are ways to make the adoption of hailing apps easier. New York officials announced this
Get Taxi

Big in London
In London, more than 100,000 people have downloaded the free cab-hailing app from Hailo since it was introduced in November, says Jay Bregman, one of the companys founders. Hailo users tap their iPhone or Android smartphone screen to alert participating drivers that they need a ride, and then tap

Which Way?
Get Taxis New York prototype shows nearby cabs and then confirms a booking. month that they would revise their rules by February. On a national level, the National Institute of Standards and Technologya federal agency based in Gaithersburg, Md., whose standards for taxi meters

are commonly used by regulatorshas gotten involved in the discussion. It has convened a task force of regulators and industry and consumer representatives to examine, among other things, whether Global Positioning System technology can be accurately used in calculating time and distance for cab fares, a feature that could readily be incorporated into hailing apps. Technology is moving at lightning speed, and the regulatory process is not, says Matthew Daus, a former New York City taxi commissioner whose law firm, Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP, is advising regulators about new technologies. Were at a regulatory fork in the road, Mr. Daus says. The crafting of new rules has the opportunity to be the greatest potential achievement if its done right, he says. Or it could be the biggest disaster ever if it fails to let the industry benefit fully from the latest technologies. Mr. Mann is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journals New York bureau. He can be reached at ted.mann@wsj.com.

Clockwise from top right: Canada Stock; U.S. DOT; Gary Lauder; Jonathan Maus/BikePortland; Benjamin Glover; Getty Images; Jonathan Maus/BikePortland;

AFTER YOU

Getty Images (Background)

The Dutch city of Groningen has bikes-only lights at busy intersections, in addition to conventional signals for motor vehicles. When green, the bike signals allow cyclists to proceed in any direction, even diagonally, without having to compete with or yield to carsparticularly useful for those time-consuming left turns. left turns. urns.

A TURN FOR BICYCLES

New kinds of traffic signs promise to keep everything flowing

By Matthew Kassel

Signals Ahead

The U.S. Department of Transportation is in the process of developing what it calls connectedvehicle technology. Though still in its pilot stage, the wireless innovation would allow drivers to receive real-time traffic warningsfor instance, that a car 200 yards ahead is braking or that road work is being doneon a screen in their automobile.

THE VEHICLE NETWORK

HE ITS A MAD, MAD WORLD OUT THERE ON THE ROADS.