Author: HOY.es
The ideograms on traffic lights are no longer all about men. Since yesterday, women are involved as well. Because the first female icons have now appeared on the city’s traffic lights — a case of equality policy applied to urban traffic.
The revolution of Cáceres’s traffic lights began in October 2007, when passers-by were
surprised to find the traditional static figure of a crossing pedestrian had learned to walk.
And not just walk, he started running just before the lights changed, as the time left for
pedestrians to cross was running out.
The walking figures were introduced as an experiment at certain junctions controlled by
traffic lights, such as those on the Avenida de Primo de Rivera. They were installed by the company
SICE, considered to be the leading name in the sector, having previously installed walking and
female icons under concessions in other cities.
SICE installed the first female ideograms — a figure with long hair, wearing a skirt — in
March 2007 in Fuenlabrada, resulting in considerable media coverage for Spain’s first “feminist” or
“equal opportunities” traffic lights.
Similar projects soon followed in Getafe and Sagunto, and the number of cities increased, now
having reached Cáceres.
SICE created these ideograms in partnership with the Telecommunications School at the
Polytechnic University of Madrid.
The design is implemented with a LED system similar to the one used for the town's new
traffic lights, and coinciding with the change it was decided to use the new female ideogram on 62
traffic lights.
