Traffic Light With a Progress Bar

At least now people know when to rev the engine and about when to it it... a whole generation of "hot off the line" kids I can see coming.
 
I like it. The new lights they put in here have a count down on the cross walks for how long until the green light turns red and I use those all the time to gauge if I need to slow down or not.
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It's a great idea, I dunno if I agree with the implementation though. The red outlines will be reasonably easy to see on the line, but anything for the yellow and green would be difficult to see at a distance.

I was actually thinking about this a few months ago on the topic of red-light cameras. With all the segmented-LED lights we have, it'd be nice if, while the light is green, the yellow light would come on with a countdown number signifying the count of seconds until the light is going to change to yellow, and the same for red. A countdown to green could be nice but I think it'd promote more aggressive driving. I would mainly want it for safety.
 
Not a bad idea, it would prevent a lot of "road rage" and accidents I would think.
 
whrswoldo said:
Useful, although a terrible idea as far as traffic accidents go :p
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Yeah, people would still try to run the yellow light but with a progress bar the ones watching the red light will gun it as soon as it turns green.
 
They have these in China and it's a mess - just as you'd expect, people tend to gun it when they know the light's about to change.

But then traffic there is a mess in general.
 
I think it's awesome, and I'm an advocate of them or the countdown timers that some other countries have implemented.
 
It looks neat but I don't think it will do good. People will probably be tempted to gun it as mentioned. People already are doing that now - everytime I pull out into an intersection I try to look around before stomping on it. Especially when I can't see to the left or right of me because of trucks etc.
 
This is an awesome idea! Police everywhere will get their needed revenue from writing tickets in traffic accidents everywhere!
 
Krenum said:
Not a bad idea, it would prevent a lot of "road rage" and accidents I would think.
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How, exactly? If you rage while waiting at a red light and cause accidents because of it, you know what would prevent those accidents? Taking away your license.

Seriously, anyone who gets so impatient at a red light from not knowing how much longer it'll be that they cause an accident should be taken off the road. How does adding a count-down timer to the lights make any sense? It's not going to improve traffic flow; Anyone who isn't going to enter the intersection right away on the green isn't paying attention to begin with, and the count-down isn't going to change that.
 
Bah, using these to race off the lights is lame. It should have one segment, then Go! Pro-tree, baybee...

Around here people don't need these, they roll halfway into the intersection when they believe the light will turn green anyway. Of course, they forgot about the leading left turns and then have to REVERSE back to where they were. *sigh*
 
I think it would help people that zone out or look away and miss the light going green. then holding up traffic and getting honked at.
 
oh just as long as its not a microsoft made progess bar from the 90's

15 mins... now 4 weeks... now 10 secs...

lulz
 
Steve said:
Part of me wants to call this stupid…the other part of me (the nerd part) thinks this traffic light with a built in progress bar is pretty cool.
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Strange as it sounds, what's old is new again.

Many years ago (give me a break... I grew up with Speed Limits of 75 on city highways, back when a Grandma-mobile had 300Hp), the old incandescent lamps they used kind of did this. They would dim, slowly, as the system that controlled them timed down (perhaps there was some sort of mechanical rheostat effect? I don't know). You could actually tell whether a light had just changed, or was right about to, by how bright it was; the dimmer it went, the closer it was to changing.
 
the crosswalk (NO) walk hand thing plus the timer beside it is pretty much the same thing. I know that there is a light that i used to turn left at that had the crosswalk timer on it. the one i turned left at before that flashed the (NO) WALK thing 17 times before staying on at the 18th at which point the street light would turn as soon as the 18th hit. so as long as you watched the fixture go from WALK to (NO) WALK you could do the same.
 
Spewn said:
How, exactly? If you rage while waiting at a red light and cause accidents because of it, you know what would prevent those accidents? Taking away your license.

Seriously, anyone who gets so impatient at a red light from not knowing how much longer it'll be that they cause an accident should be taken off the road. How does adding a count-down timer to the lights make any sense? It's not going to improve traffic flow; Anyone who isn't going to enter the intersection right away on the green isn't paying attention to begin with, and the count-down isn't going to change that.
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If the timer was on the Green lights as well it would definitely help. People slamming on their brakes as it changes yellow is a pretty common occurrence (Especially since the introduction of red-light cameras), and it causes accidents.
 
Rofl-Mic-Lofl said:
If the timer was on the Green lights as well it would definitely help. People slamming on their brakes as it changes yellow is a pretty common occurrence (Especially since the introduction of red-light cameras), and it causes accidents.
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I see we're ignoring the fact that if someone in front of you stops, no matter how quickly, your inability to stop before hitting them is related to your following distance being too close and not their stopping rate being too fast.

What of the fact that idiots just shouldn't be allowed to drive in the first place? Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how to A) Get idiots off the road and B) prevent idiots from getting on the road in the first place, instead of figuring out how to cater and pander to the idiots?
 
When I lived in Iceland the Red and Yellow would be lit up at the same time letting you know it was about to turn green.
 
Spewn said:
What of the fact that idiots just shouldn't be allowed to drive in the first place? Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how to A) Get idiots off the road and B) prevent idiots from getting on the road in the first place, instead of figuring out how to cater and pander to the idiots?
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Easier said than done.
 
Will the progress bar speed up and slow down depending on congestion and other seemingly random causes like the one in Windows?

Zepher: That freaked me out the first time I saw it, but I grew to actually like it. I miss it up there in Iceland.
 
Zepher said:
When I lived in Iceland the Red and Yellow would be lit up at the same time letting you know it was about to turn green.
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Except when the volcano blows and you got lava chasing you, then you disregard all traffic signals. Right? :D
 
Redleader said:
I like it. The new lights they put in here have a count down on the cross walks for how long until the green light turns red and I use those all the time to gauge if I need to slow down or not.
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yeah i love the countdowns in and around Washington DC area. genius
 
vidkun said:
Will the progress bar speed up and slow down depending on congestion and other seemingly random causes like the one in Windows?

Zepher: That freaked me out the first time I saw it, but I grew to actually like it. I miss it up there in Iceland.
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It's been almost 20 years since I was there last. Maybe next year I'll go there and visit my relatives.

Azhar said:
Except when the volcano blows and you got lava chasing you, then you disregard all traffic signals. Right? :D
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Ya, I guess you just haul ass and don't look back. :)
 
Fuck that's cool... Progress bars were the first thing I learned to program back the day. I think I was 8 or 9 - and using Applescript Studio lol.
 
As long as it doesn't use the M$ progress bar... 30 seconds to go... 20 seconds to go... 5 minutes to go :)
 
Lights with visible timers are already around in many other countries. A friend of mine has been trying to sell them in the US.
 
I think they should do this on all colors but red. You would know when the yellow or red was coming, but wouldn't have the idiots sittings there waiting to race the green light. Any more than already.
 
Someone is going to gun it trying to beat the yellow, and someone else will be coming down the cross street, not slowing down because he can see the timer, and fly through the intersection the instant it turns green.
 
I'm surprised that this is new. I thought of this idea many years ago but instead would be a countdown clock in each of the colored lights to display the time in seconds. Similar concept to how pedestrian crossings are controlled. Glad they are coming and should be required for any camera controlled intersection.
 
Spewn said:
I see we're ignoring the fact that if someone in front of you stops, no matter how quickly, your inability to stop before hitting them is related to your following distance being too close and not their stopping rate being too fast.

What of the fact that idiots just shouldn't be allowed to drive in the first place? Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how to A) Get idiots off the road and B) prevent idiots from getting on the road in the first place, instead of figuring out how to cater and pander to the idiots?
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QFT.

This system is great if everyone drives responsibly and using caution.

However in the US driving habits are atrocious at BEST. I say this as delivery courier with FIVE years of driving under my belt.

The poster above me also brings up an excellent point... driver sees Yellow counting down. They are already doing 40 in a 35. They gun it to 45-50? To make it through. Person coming to the intersection from left or right doing 40 in a 35, they see the light is about to go from red to green, they don't stop...
 
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