Should it be "fewer" instead of “less”？

[v0031]

Lights on the ground alert pedestrians looking down at their phones.
The lights cost about 10,000 euros ($11,313) each. Some have complained about the price, said Jurgen Fergg, a spokesman for the Augsburg municipal service, but the cost is "justified compared to the damage that can be prevented."
"We will keep an eye on the results and see if less people will walk over the red light," Fergg said.
A 19-year-old man was seriously injured March 8 in Augsburg when he walked into the path of an oncoming train while wearing headphones, according to police. Other cities in Germany have had fatal accidents involving distracted pedestrians, according to Fergg.

[Joe Republic]

Strictly speaking, 'fewer' is used for items that can be counted, while 'less' is for something more abstract that cannot easily be measured.  So in the context of 'people', 'fewer' would be correct.

However, 'less people' is often used and could be considered correct as well, depending on the context.  In the context given, they may not intend to specifically measure the number of people using the warning lights, and are talking about people in a more general way.  So in that sense, 'less' would be acceptable.

[Torie]

Strictly speaking, 'fewer' is used for items that can be counted, while 'less' is for something more abstract that cannot easily be measured.  So in the context of 'people', 'fewer' would be correct.

However, 'less people' is often used and could be considered correct as well, depending on the context.  In the context given, they may not intend to specifically measure the number of people using the warning lights, and are talking about people in a more general way.  So in that sense, 'less' would be acceptable.

Very interesting. Thanks.

[muon2]

I'd be more concerned about the use of currency equivalents such as ($11,313). Using a value with five significant figures conveys to the reader that the value is known very precisely. Currency values change daily and what is $11,313 today could easily be $11,257 tomorrow. Such precision is misleading when dealing with a general statement about equivalent currency values.

However, there's a deeper problem with the number in context with the words in the sentence. In this case the text says "about 10,000 euros", which means that the price used in euros is not very accurate, probably not to better than 1,000 euros either way. So if the knowledge about the price is only that is likely to be in the range from 9,000 to 11,000 euros, then the reported dollar amount should also convey the same level of precision. The right way to do that is to round off the number in dollars and write $11,000.

[RINO Tom]

Pretty much as simple as this (as others have said): fewer is for things that can be counted individually (pencils, snacks, snowflakes), less is for things that can't (office stuff, food, snow).

I'm not an extremely book smart guy, but I'm very grateful that my mom was a grammar teacher!

[Derpist]

I'm pretty sure most native English speakers have no idea, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0wj38qTtFU