Traffic Light Nonsense?
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@phronk caught my attention with this tweet, and after clicking on the link and seeing the photo I was even more intrigued. So off I went in search of more info.
I found this article which describes it as “a great idea” and suggests that “maybe the countdown feature could be used on the yellow and green lights, too.”
Yuch. As if we didn’t already have enough of a problem. Here are a few of the comments from that page which mirror my own skepticism:
- “This would just encourage drivers who race away at the amber light to jump away even sooner. If you put it on the green light you’d encourage drivers to step on the gas if their time was nearly up. Definitely a case of too much information.”
- “This would cause more people to race, if anyone’s had a stint at drag racing, the count down lights get you exhilarated.”
- “I bet some drivers will jump the lights when they approach and see its about to turn green.”
The previous article pointed me to this one and it in turn sent me to this one (and reminded me why I’m so reluctant to click on the Stumble! button below my browser’s address bar – it’s too easy to get sidetracked and lose a half-dozen hours on the Internet).
What do you think? Would count-down traffic lights result in an increase of red-light running in London? Or would they be a SOP and soak up some driver impatience?
© Fowler Media
I agree with you. It looks neat, but what purpose would it serve? Does knowing when the light will change make any difference to the person waiting at it? Driver impatience should be a problem that we address directly, not provide band-aid solutions for. In my opinion, as one of the other commenters you quoted mentions, adding these indicators will only encourage racing.
I dunno…I’d give people more credit than that. People who make good decisions now would probably use the extra information to continue making good decisions (e.g., anticipating a yellow light to plan when to slow down, or knowing when there’s not enough time at a red to safely take a sip of coffee). People who make bad decisions would continue to do so, and can be dealt with directly.
We could probably get data on this, at least for green light countdowns, by looking at how lights with countdowns for pedestrians affect traffic and accidents. I’ve seen these in big cities and drivers can’t help but use the information too.
Ditto Phronk re good decisions.
Ditto on drag racing.
Let’s add extra tools where the ones we have are inadequate. Tonight’s standout violator was About Town taxi no. 242 (Monday Nov 30, approx. 9:45pm).
We were both rolling on St George, southbound, uphill toward the Victoria Park 4-way stop intersection. As I’m coasting to a stop, 242 passes me wide in the final 5-10m before the stop line and rolls through the intersection in the middle of St George without trying to stop. (Passenger drop was near Richmond @ Oxford, where I saw 242 making a left turn onto Richmond northbound with the roof light on.)
Perspective: If you can’t stop your vehicle on demand, with full notice, then what amount of confidence/trust do you think I should have in you doing the right thing on short notice?
Counterpoint: I experience more safe passing NOW than I did through the summer. That demonstrates to me that some people are trying to do the right thing. If you can’t do that, then let me say thanks for playing and please return your license to MTO.
I think I’d rather hide the signals that one flow of traffic sees from the other flow. More mystery ought to lead to more respect by way of self-preserving caution.
A count-down timer is good in theory, but the theory also assumes people will drive responsibly. Given London Ontario’s driving habits that I’ve observed and I’d say we’d have more problems overall.
Spend the money on cameras to catch traffic light jumpers instead.