At first glance it seems like just another fun art project, but this dancing traffic light can actually vastly improve safety wherever it's installed. Because people waiting for a 'don't walk' sign to change to 'walk' are far more likely to stick it out when they're distracted and entertained, rather than just try and walk through a red light when they tire of waiting.

The dancing street light was created by Daimler AG's Smart brand as a way to improve safety on urban streets, and to keep this animated 'don't walk' stick figure's moves original and entertaining, they're actually based on dance moves of real random people, performing in a private booth not too far away from the intersection.


Their dance moves are translated to the pixelated stick figure in real-time, and the results are endlessly entertaining. Who wouldn't want to stick around for the whole red light show, except we have no idea where this was installed. If you happened to see it while the installation was running let us know where you were in the comments, and if it's still there. [YouTube via LikeCool]