In America and a plethora of other countries across the world, pedestrians don't have to second guess the crossing to see if they still have time to make their move before the light changes, like we do in Britain. But if testing goes well, the countdown timer traffic lights could be rolled out to all major cities in England, meaning that the indecision factor is completely eliminated.
The crossing counts down the time between the green man disappearing and the red man flashing up again, so that pedestrians know exactly how long they have left to cross. The system is being tested on eight road junctions over the next two years, and will help London Mayor Boris Johnson to cut down waiting times for drivers and improve the speed of the city. Under the current crossing system, pedestrians are not supposed to cross if the green man isn't showing, but can use this black out time to finished crossing the road. When the general public were asked about this, they were unaware of why this time period existed. The idea is to make England consistent with other countries around the world, to make it safer for people here including the disabled and elderly, but also to improve safety for foreigners in the country who are unaware of our system. London officials were criticised in 2007 when a lady was killed in the city when crossing a road with four lanes of traffic, and the lights changed when she was half way across. Boris Johnson was quoted as saying "i want to make London an easier place for everyone to get around whether they are on foot or wheels"