SEATTLE — Sonja Woodard was staring at her phone, walking on Third Avenue across Columbia Street, when a bus spoke at her.

“Caution, bus is turning; Cuidado, autobus esta virando,” an automated female voice said, while the driver made a right turn toward Seattle’s waterfront. Woodard suddenly looked up, and avoided the moving bus, as did a few other people walking nearby.

So goes an experiment by King County Metro Transit, which has installed strobes and external speakers on 10 buses.

For the next month, the specially outfitted buses will run on Route 11, from downtown Seattle through the pedestrian-filled Pike-Pine and Madison Park areas; and other lines. Test buses traveled Thursday on Third Avenue, and circled Pioneer Square.

As more people walk through a growing city, and roughly one-third are glued to their phones and tablets, the potential for danger has increased — as has the available technology.

King County Metro reports seven incidents in which turning buses struck pedestrians last year, and one in the first quarter of this year.

The University of Washington also announced a safety innovation this week, to protect bicyclists by adding steel skirts to the sides of its 31 delivery trucks, so people won’t fall under the wheels. The university displayed a truck near its Rainier Vista entrance Friday morning to mark National Bike to Work Day.

The university hasn’t had a history of side collisions, but got the idea from Boston, said fleet-services manager George Donegan.