Why don't green lights flash before turning orange, allowing drivers to halt before the red light?
Some time ago you rightly pointed out that, approaching a green light, you should expect that it would change. Although theoretically it shouldn't happen, sometimes, in a flow of traffic, it is too dangerous to suddenly stop when the green changes. Orange only gives you two seconds to clear the junction. Would it not help if the green light flashed for its last three seconds? At least, it would give you safe time to slow to a halt.
Asked on 9 January 2012 by GW, Porthcawl.
Answered by
Honest John
Good idea. Even more sensible is to have digital count-down traffic lights, as they do in Thailand, China, Canada and even now in France at traffic lights at road works. They work both ways as they also tell you how long you will have to wait so you know when to switch your engine off and when to start it again (if it doesn’t do that all by itself).
Tags:
traffic lights
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