The Uncanny Valley of a European City Break

I love a European city break. Everything is almost the same, but not quite. It’s the little differences things so interesting. You start to question why things are the way they are, and ponder how they came to be. On a recent trip to Dublin, I was fascinated by the traffic lights.

There are two things you need to know about traffic lights in Ireland. First, pedestrian crossings have an amber man. After the crossing lights have been green for a while, but before going red, they turn amber. Here in the UK, we’re stuck on a two-man system. Sometimes you get a flashing green light, or the lights go out entirely. If you’re lucky, you might see a countdown, making a simple road crossing feel like a very low-budget Tom Cruise movie. The Irish system makes so much more sense! Why do we have separate lighting designs for pedestrians and road traffic? Surely it took more effort to come up with two different designs?

The second - arguably even more exciting - thing you need to know about Irish traffic lights is the sound. The pedestrian crossing noise sounds like a laser gun. I’m not making this up. Every time you cross the road, rather than the harsh-but-functional “beep-beep-beep-beep” of a British crossing, there’s a delightfully futuristic “pew”. I didn’t jaywalk once.

It’s possible that this sonic sweep is better for certain kinds of hearing-impaired folks. Perhaps it grabs your attention more. Maybe it’s less intrusive for people who live right by the traffic lights and don’t want to hear the beeps. Or maybe there’s no functional reason for it at all. Because if traffic lights can make laser gun noises, why don’t all traffic lights make laser gun noises?