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Seven Seconds Can Protect Pedestrians At Intersections

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on July 21, 2025.

MONDAY, July 21, 2025 — A seven-second head start for pedestrians can save lives and prevent injuries at busy intersections, a new study says.

Pedestrian-related injuries dropped by 33% at crosswalks where New York City rejiggered traffic lights to give walkers those extra seven seconds, researchers report in the journal Nature Cities.

The most dramatic impact came during the day, with fatal pedestrian crashes reduced by 65%, results show.

The strategy, called Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI), involves offering pedestrians a chance to start crossing the street before vehicles get the green light to turn, researchers said.

“The idea is to give pedestrians time to reach the center of the intersection where they’re more visible,” senior researcher Christopher Morrison said in a news release. He’s an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

“Most pedestrian-vehicle crashes happen near the curb, where drivers are less likely to see people crossing,” he noted.

New York City started implementing LPI at intersections in 2013 as part of the U.S. Vision Zero program, a large-scale effort to reduce traffic injuries and deaths, researchers said in background notes.

Other low-cost measures promoted by U.S. Vision Zero include speed humps and rubber speed bumps, researchers said.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 New York City intersections between 2013 and 2018, of which nearly 2,900 featured the pedestrian head start.

Overall, more than 340,500 crashes at and around those intersections led to about 25,600 injuries and 291 deaths, researchers found.

In all, 20% of fatal and 18% of non-fatal pedestrian-related crashes occurred at crosswalks equipped with LPI, researchers found.

“LPIs are one of the most affordable and scalable traffic safety interventions,” Morrison said. “A seven-second delay for drivers can mean the difference between life and death for pedestrians.”

The takeaway: “Our findings show they work — and should be adopted more widely,” Morrison concluded.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted July 2025

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