The Barnes Dance may be coming to Toronto this spring. This is not a new artistic troop or new form of exercise. The Barnes Dance, named after traffic engineer Henry Barnes, uses red lights at intersections to stop traffic in all directions so that pedestrians can cross a busy intersection in any direction without dodging traffic.

Pending approval by city council, the Barnes Dance, also called scramble intersections, will be tried out this spring at Yonge & Bloor and Bay & Bloor. Scramble intersections are currently in use in many American and international cities. Japan has over 300 of them. The great advantage of scramble intersections is that studies have shown a marked decrease in the number of pedestrian/car accidents. The downside is there is increased wait time at red lights for drivers. However that should be offset by the fact that they will no longer have to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Have you been in a city that already has scramble intersections? What did you think of them?