Despite a global (worldwide?) understanding of the symbols (lights and their colours), the actual design of pedestrian control boxes or signal and traffic lights can vary greatly from country to country, potentially creating confusion.
Designers need to think for all pedestrians, for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or sight-impaired people, wheelchair users and for people from different languages and cultures too, able-bodied or not.
For drivers, of course, the needs are quite different: height and visibility become key factors in the placement and positioning of traffic lights.
But the frequent traveler will notice that design and placement of traffic lights can be quite different from country to country.
Horizontal or vertical, near the stop line or on the other side of the street, « floating » above the street, just connected via a cable… some lights are well organised in many countries, much less in others…
