Brazilian Activists Paint Guerrilla Pedestrian Lines!

Photos: Urban repair squad @ Apocalipse motorizado.

Via Treehugger:

We’ve seen some examples of guerrilla bike paths and signs before, so it couldn’t be long before it got to pedestrian lines. The stereotype would say that if a World Cup soccer match is on, a Brazilian would be glued to the TV, right? Not these activists from Sao Paulo (a city known for its massive transit chaos), who took advantage of the deserted streets during the games to intervene dangerous streets and make them more people-friendly. See the many pictures inside: the paths actually work perfectly and make cars stop!The ‘urban repair squad’ (tip via Vitor Leal Pinheiro) was an initiative of activists closely related to the bike movement in Sao Paulo. As mentioned, they took advantage of deserted streets during World Cup Games to paint different signs in the streets to call attention to humans outside cars.

For the Brazil-North Korea match, the activists painted three large signs at a bridge in the University City area of Sao Paulo: complete with pedestrian crossing lines, a crossing bike-path and a sign that reads ‘Slow Down, Lives Around’.

Then for the Paraguay-Spain match, the focus was on the Miguel Estéfano avenue, in front of the Sao Paulo Botanical Garden. People had to push a button to cross the street there, but there was no signage to respect this so the activists added new pedestrian lines and the cars responded by stopping and letting people go by.

We’re not sure whether the lines are still in place, but this seems like a very cool way to call the attention of authorities, especially in a city ruled by cars like Sao Paulo. Do you know of more guerrilla pedestrian lines painted in other cities?