The red button encouraging cyclists to stop at red lights

What unsustainable behavior needs to change:

Amsterdam’s traffic landscape has undergone significant shifts, with increased activity and a notable rise in cyclists and pedestrians, paralleled by a decrease in car numbers. 

However, the success in reducing cars has given rise to a new challenge: approximately 25% of Amsterdammers routinely ignore red lights, heightening the risk of accidents.  Addressing this habit of disregarding red lights has become imperative to bolster road safety amidst the city’s evolving traffic dynamics.

The Green Nudge:

Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam, ANDC developed an intervention, known as the “gestopt-voor-rood-teller,”  aimed at reducing the number of cyclists disregarding red lights at a crossroad. 

The ‚gestopt-voor-rood-teller‘ was a visual display set up at a particular crossroad in Amsterdam. Cyclists were encouraged to engage by pushing a red button, which tallied the increasing number of cyclists waiting at the red light – visibly displayed on the screen. Additionally, a self-persuasion question, ‚you too?‘ encouraged cyclists to adhere to the newly established social norm.

The result: upon implementation of the intervention, the likelihood of cyclists stopping for the traffic light increased by 2.7 times. Even four months after the intervention’s removal, the effect remained twice as substantial.