STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: These days, pedestrians crossing streets in Bellevue, Washington, feel they're being watched. It's not paranoia, and it's not TV cameras. It is an innovation the traffic officials hope will promote defensive walking, as CNN's Lilian Kim reports.</s>LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The eyes dart left to right, back and forth. The message: look both ways before you cross the street. These innovative new signals are encouraging pedestrians to focus on safety.</s>KEVIN KNOWLES, PEDESTRIAN: People tend to go, you know, whenever they want to on a crosswalk, sometimes when even in the hands-up. So that kind of draws your attention to.</s>KIM: These roving eye signals are designed to help save lives. In the U.S. pedestrian-vehicle collisions nearly kill 6,000 people a year and injure another 80,000.</s>KAREN GONZALEZ, TRANSPORTATION SPECIALIST: We rely to be the signal to be the telltale that says, OK, if we have the walk, it's OK to walk. Everybody's going to stop for us. And unfortunately, that, in essence, may not be true.</s>KIM (on camera): City leaders hope getting people to look both ways will lead to fewer accidents, pointing out that although it's still the driver's responsibility to yield, it doesn't hurt for pedestrians to be more careful. (voice-over): Early tests indicate the new signals are encouraging more people to look before they walk. Still, some pedestrians find them unnecessary.</s>ANNELIESE ANDERS, PEDESTRIAN: When I cross the street, I look both ways anyway, any time. So I don't know why you would need it.</s>KIM: Other cities are setting their sites on the experimental signals. If they prove to be effective in the long-term, these eyes could be seen at intersections across the country. Lilian Kim, CNN, Bellevue, Washington.</s>FRAZIER: Lilian tells us each signal costs a little more than $400.
Washington Hopes to Save Lives Through Roving Eye Signals