The Aichi Prefectural Police are trying novel approaches to reduce traffic accidents, including installing light signals that can't be seen from a distance and making streets much narrower at pedestrian crossings so drivers must slow down.

By prefecture, Aichi has the most traffic fatalities every year.

To improve the situation, the police plan to make the roads where accidents tend to occur more difficult to navigate, forcing drivers to slow down.

All 45 police stations in the prefecture have been monitoring the situation since January under the policy, and have flagged 200 locations where collisions are likely to occur.

Traffic lights and repaving projects are planned for these accident-prone areas in a bid to make them safer for pedestrians.

On March 12, new traffic lights were installed in an intersection in Kyomachi in the city of Seto, where a national highway crosses a city street. The area has seen 26 accidents over the past five years, the highest in the prefecture.

Flashing red lights had been used previously to indicate that cars have to stop before crossing, but the new signal employes the green, yellow, red sequence.

However, what makes it unusual is that the green lights have been dimmed and hooded at the top, making it difficult for drivers to spot them until they are closer to the intersection.

The highway runs parallel to the Meitetsu Seto rail line, both of which cross the city street.

Many drivers on the street ignore the stop-and-look signal and proceed through the intersection before the railway crossing gates come down, and some end up in collisions with vehicles on the highway.

Generally traffic lights are visible from around 150 meters away, but the new green signals installed in Kyomachi are only visible from 10 to 20 meters away.

Not being able to spot the color will force drivers to slow down, police hope.

The Aichi police have employed the same tactic on highway exits for the past 10 years, but it is rare to use them on a regular street.

In addition, a no-entry zone was created in the center of a road in Nakamura Ward, Nagoya, on March 13.

The zone measures 1 meter wide and 30 meters long and covers a white pedestrian crossing.

Colored poles have also been installed, making the street 50 cm narrower on each side, forcing drivers to brake before reaching the crossing.

This is the first such restriction in the prefecture.

A housing complex and a park are located nearby and the pedestrian crossing is often used by children and the elderly.

In 2004 and 2011, children were struck by vehicles at the crossing, prompting locals to dub the site a danger zone.

Last year, Aichi had 204 traffic deaths, the most for a prefecture for a 12th year in a row.

As of March 15, the number had already reached 43, the worst by far in the country.

"It is ironic that we are trying to reduce the number of accidents by making it more difficult to see traffic lights, but we are prioritizing the safety of pedestrians in our new strategies," said a representative from the prefectural police force's traffic regulations division.

This section, appearing Saturdays, features topics and issues from the Chubu region covered by the Chunichi Shimbun. The original article was published on March 17.