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http://infosthetics.com/archives/2009/12/eko_a_traffic_light_with_progress_bars.html

Came across that article somehow. It's about a stoplight that shows you how long till the next green with a progress bar. Some of those comments are pretty bad. Seems like most people are taking the view that the govt would force you to shut off your car while others are convinced that shutting down your car for 5 seconds doesn't save much fuel. Well yeah, it doesn't save much fuel at all to shut off for 5 seconds, but most lights you're shut down for >30 seconds.

Seems like since cities are slowly switching over to LED signals, now is a great time to introduce some new features to the signals.

Nice find. I like to read the comments as it gives you a good outlook of the general population and their thoughts.

I thinks its a great thing for us hypermilers so we know how to time the lights.

I thinks its a bad idea for joe redneck because this give him the opportunity to gun it. People around here all ready gun it before the green light when its dark out and you can see the other light start to change. It does not happen that often during the day since you cant see the other lights.

we have something similar that i have found useful on some of our 4 lanes that have traffic lights. a certain way out from the light itself is a sign that says "prepare to stop when flashing." the flashing starts when the light is going to cycle. i have found that by keeping a decent speed, you will make the light if the flashers go on just as you pass them.

when i am approaching them from farther away, i know i won't make the light and i start to slow down. the unfortunate thing is that other drivers that far out obviously don't understand why, and keep up their speeding until they have to brake to stop. i can often times simply glide through as the light changes, thus passing the brake stompers. i like it, and miss it when i am roads that don't have the warning signs.

we have something similar that i have found useful on some of our 4 lanes that have traffic lights. a certain way out from the light itself is a sign that says "prepare to stop when flashing." the flashing starts when the light is going to cycle. i have found that by keeping a decent speed, you will make the light if the flashers go on just as you pass them.



We have those here, but nothing that says "prepare to stop when flashing." However I figured out that whenever the flashing is on, it means the light is red. No one else seems to have caught on however. I think some people might know, but people in general seem to need to be pressing on at least one of the pedals at all times. It's disgusting and really irks me.

Frequenters of this forum would find it incredibly useful.

Joe Sixpack, however, would misuse it for reasons already stated.

-Mike

Variation on the yellow lights on a drag strip christmas tree.

Is there a bell to wake up the bozo second in line who is asleep ;-)

it would be another thing to help us hypermilers. unfortunately would be another thing that the "others" would take advantage of and not in a good way. like one post said what about the car that tries to beat the yellow light and another that jumps out when he see he's gonna get a green signal.

sounds like an old adage i remember.......

light runners get hit by light jumpers.

This is true. It would sure teach both parties a hard lesson.

-Mike

I'd much rather a timer on the GREEN, but would like it even better if both had it.

I'd much rather a timer on the GREEN, but would like it even better if both had it.

+1. This and for the flashing yellow to be implemented (with a countdown also) as you approach stoplights on a bend.

A few lights here, just after a blind corner, have an extra signal off to the side where you can see it as you approach the corner. It helps, a lot.

I think it would work well if implemented over time. There would be an adjustment period where a few idiots would hit each other, but after that people would change their driving to fit the lights.

In Germany and many other countries in Europe when you're at a red light, the yellow light will come one while the red light stays on, just before the light turns green.

Oh and +2 on the green light timer, question is just how large they would have to make the changing circular lights to be visible from quite a distance away.

I've noticed some places have the yellow stay on for a good 3-4 seconds while others have it on for only 1-2 seconds.

Yeah maybe a timer on the green would be better just for safety. It does suck doing p&g and then having that green light in the distance change to a yellow one right after you pulsed.

I'd much rather a timer on the GREEN, ...

Many of the newest local WALK lights have countdown timers, and most of these also serve as green light timers. However, one needs to learn which ones aren't connected directly to the green light, such as some where only one direction of traffic is stopped so that a left turn arrow can be turned on.

In my ECEN 248 class, I had to build a traffic light model using Verilog. I found that it seemed to run much faster with a countdown display even though the actual timing has not changed. I'm sure the same psychological effect would occur with real traffic lights, and don't forget how much easier it would be to time the lights...