App Shows You When Traffic Lights Will Change

Megalith

Megalith

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This kind of thing seems like it’d be useful for a street race. Although I’d just use it to avoid getting honked at when the light turns green and I’m still looking down at my phone and scrolling through my music playlist.

To get this information to you, Connected Signals has produced a phone app that looks at your location and direction of travel, figures out when you’re likely to hit the next light, and tells you what that light is doing right now and when it’s likely to change.
 
Very useful to either speed to the next light or keep it slow to the next light.

I would so use this, so I can hit the row of green lights for as long a possible.
 
Here in L.A. there are crosswalk signals that are in sync with the traffic lights. I keep an eye on those. If the crosswalk signal is green, you have plenty of time to get thru. Once it starts blinking there's a countdown of how many seconds you have left, and it will go solid red when there isn't enough time for a pedestrian to to safely cross.

I don't need no stinkin' app for that.
 
Lethal said:
Here in L.A. there are crosswalk signals that are in sync with the traffic lights. I keep an eye on those. If the crosswalk signal is green, you have plenty of time to get thru. Once it starts blinking there's a countdown of how many seconds you have left, and it will go solid red when there isn't enough time for a pedestrian to to safely cross.

I don't need no stinkin' app for that.
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You can use them as countdown lights as well, great for street racing, lol.
 
Lethal said:
Here in L.A. there are crosswalk signals that are in sync with the traffic lights. I keep an eye on those. If the crosswalk signal is green, you have plenty of time to get thru. Once it starts blinking there's a countdown of how many seconds you have left, and it will go solid red when there isn't enough time for a pedestrian to to safely cross.

I don't need no stinkin' app for that.
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Boise was the same way, it was awesome.
 
This won't work if their app isn't synced in with the traffic systems that control various municipalities, which is extremely unlikely.
In which case, they are useless because there are 3 types of traffic signal systems:
1. static - rotates through a fixed pattern
2. dynamic - responds only to sensors in the road to trigger signal change
3. mixed - static and dynamic with variable configurable timings throughout the day based on traffic patterns
hence unless it's #1, this app is shit. With all the sensors in the roads installed in california, this app is useless.
 
Hopefully, people don't use these for cruising down the street. You see it's going to turn green in 2 seconds, so you don't slow down. So, as you're going on that instant it turns green, someone was hauling through on the last bit of yellow and the red. CRASH!
 
It is illegal to use your phone while driving so most of you are admitting to breaking the law by saying you would use it.
 
this is another awesome reason to look at your phone while driving.

keep up the good work.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Hopefully, people don't use these for cruising down the street. You see it's going to turn green in 2 seconds, so you don't slow down. So, as you're going on that instant it turns green, someone was hauling through on the last bit of yellow and the red. CRASH!
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Yeah this is the first thing that came to mind, great now people are going to be staring at a cell phone and assuming that data is 100% accurate, there is no lag at all.. WAMMO someone's dead.

Of course you could simply save gas by not speeding from light to light, or if you do want to go fast simply let up on the gas rather than brake at the last minute.

There's one particular street in SF that I often drive that if you go the speed limit (I think 35) you will catch every green light for many blocks, if you go too fast you'll stop. The downside is people who go fast then stop now there's a car that's stopped when it turns green and it fucks your shit up too.
 
Yeah I can see people use this for unnecessary routes and getting pissed off when someone changes into their lane or jaywalks to slow them down by 1 second. We all already get frustrated with that, the app would only build on it and give more reason and proof to be.
 
rezerekted said:
It is illegal to use your phone while driving so most of you are admitting to breaking the law by saying you would use it.
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Pretty sure based on how they described the app it would be hands free, the article even said that it would have audio guidance so you don't even have to look at your phone.

greenman said:
[...]getting pissed off when someone changes into their lane[...]
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This one always happens to me in the form of a huge line of cars the next lane over from me, I'm happily moving toward the light in my lane, last second some jackass who has already been sitting in that line of cars for over a minute decides to pull into my lane when I'm less than 5 car lengths from them. It's like people watch their side mirror and wait until a car is approaching to pull out. Also seems to apply when I'm in the right lane coming to an intersection and someone pulls a right turn as I'm entering the intersection. <raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaage>
 
rezerekted said:
It is illegal to use your phone while driving so most of you are admitting to breaking the law by saying you would use it.
Click to expand...

This^^^

What a dumb idea. So are people supposed to be staring at their phone instead of watching the road?
 
rezerekted said:
It is illegal to use your phone while driving so most of you are admitting to breaking the law by saying you would use it.
Click to expand...

Putting your phone in a cradle attached to your windshield and launching the app so it stays live while you drive is not illegal. Nor is using your phone for navigation in the same way. Texting while driving is rightfully illegal in most places. Chatting on your phone in a lot of places while driving is illegal (in some places it's even illegal hands free). But "using" your phone while driving in a manner that doesn't require that you touch it is not. Were that the case most in car nav systems would also be illegal.

As I recall Audi was integrating this type of feature into it's navigation systems but said the feature wouldn't be available in the US because the companies that produce streetlight systems here are very secretive. Apparently it's openly available knowledge in a lot of European countries.
 
rezerekted said:
It is illegal to use your phone while driving so most of you are admitting to breaking the law by saying you would use it.
Click to expand...

Not sure where you live, but in the USA it is perfectly legal to use your phone while driving. The only thing that varies is HOW you use your phone, be it with hands-free device or even texting.

Only 14 states have "hand-held" bans (meaning they require hands-free devices), 38 states ban their use entirely for those under 18, and 46 states ban the use of text messaging while driving. None of these laws cover other uses like using your phone to play music or switching an app. Those situations are already covered under existing laws. If a police officer sees you swerving or just not paying attention in general while using any device, be it your radio, or a cell phone, they are going to pull you over.

source: http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html
 
Probably works off a database of static timing profiles.

I know when I used to drive one of our local city busses, I used to be able to do the same things with some of the lights and looking at my watch (which was one of those that syc'd up daily to a radio signal from the government, and was extremely accurate, like less than 10ms off at any time). Anyway, since I was always passing thru the same intersections in the same part of the city at the exact same time due to the bus's schedule, I'd always see the traffic light change at the exact same time every day.
 
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