Traffic Light With a Progress Bar

Most traffic lights in major Phx area intersections have a countdown timer for the crosswalk. Some start at 45sec, which is the same time as the green signal. Watch that and you can get a good reaction time on the light.

On a side note, Phoenix is the number one red light running city. Giving people going the other direction a drag-race christmas tree isn't going to help with the accidents. If anything, more street racing will be taking place.
 
I like the idea of the red light progress bar, but for a completely different reason: It's a visual confirmation that the system is actually working.

For some reason, every once in a while, a traffic signal fails to detect my arrival at the intersection. I sit there for a couple minutes, and the signal refuses to change. This kind of system would confirm to me that yes, the signals are aware of my presence.
 
It's a great idea... as long as there is the 2 second, ALL directions are red, delay... that takes care of your accident issues for all you people claiming it will cause more accidents...
 
its not that hard to be a little observant and be ready for a light...its all sensors/timers, so once you figure that out...



new lights just for "timers" would be a waste of money, imo.
 
az_max said:
On a side note, Phoenix is the number one red light running city. Giving people going the other direction a drag-race christmas tree isn't going to help with the accidents. If anything, more street racing will be taking place.
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Nope, not when they have a 2 second delay where all directions are red then it won't cause more accidents at all.
 
whrswoldo said:
Useful, although a terrible idea as far as traffic accidents go :p
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Not when there is a 2-second delay in which all directions are red... They don't go from red one direction to green the other way at the exact same time at almost all intersections as it is now. Adding this countdown timers would OBVIOUSLY include using said 2-second delay.

Sorry for multiple posts addressing same issue, last one I promise. A lot of uninformed people on here immediately claiming it will cause more accidents when they don't know.
 
Bad idea IMHO, and no i didn't read through the post all the way but i am sure it has been brought up, but ill bring it up again. All the stupid 16-2x year old kids are going to use this for drag racing. Again IMHO dumb idea
 
What they should do is put retractable foot-thick boron-carbide barriers under the ground on fast-moving hydraulics. As soon as a light goes red, it pops up and anyone trying to run the red light gets an instant Darwin Award. Impact sensors would open doors under the road right in front of the barrier, dropping the car and now deceased idiot into a pit for recycling later. The barriers drop on green. This way people don't have to worry about getting T-boned by red-light runners, overpopulation fears can be reduced, and the gene pool of the human species could be improved. I guarantee you'd have more careful drivers with that system. :D
 
Gnomepatrol said:
Bad idea IMHO, and no i didn't read through the post all the way but i am sure it has been brought up, but ill bring it up again. All the stupid 16-2x year old kids are going to use this for drag racing. Again IMHO dumb idea
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Meh.. I think they will drag race now how it is if they want... This will lead more people to pay some dang attention and keep people behind them from missing the light. In busy traffic times it will keep traffic from getting as backed up when more people make it through the light when everyone is paying more attention.
 
Phoenix333 said:
What they should do is put retractable foot-thick boron-carbide barriers under the ground on fast-moving hydraulics. As soon as a light goes red, it pops up and anyone trying to run the red light gets an instant Darwin Award. Impact sensors would open doors under the road right in front of the barrier, dropping the car and now deceased idiot into a pit for recycling later. The barriers drop on green. This way people don't have to worry about getting T-boned by red-light runners, overpopulation fears can be reduced, and the gene pool of the human species could be improved. I guarantee you'd have more careful drivers with that system. :D
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Best reply FTW! LOL
 
Mohonri said:
I like the idea of the red light progress bar, but for a completely different reason: It's a visual confirmation that the system is actually working.
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danbfree said:
It's a great idea... as long as there is the 2 second, ALL directions are red, delay... that takes care of your accident issues for all you people claiming it will cause more accidents...
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Yep, you guys nailed it. Even a one second delay would be sufficient, or better yet, a random delay between 1 and 2 seconds.
 
Phoenix333 said:
What they should do is put retractable foot-thick boron-carbide barriers under the ground on fast-moving hydraulics. As soon as a light goes red, it pops up and anyone trying to run the red light gets an instant Darwin Award. Impact sensors would open doors under the road right in front of the barrier, dropping the car and now deceased idiot into a pit for recycling later. The barriers drop on green. This way people don't have to worry about getting T-boned by red-light runners, overpopulation fears can be reduced, and the gene pool of the human species could be improved. I guarantee you'd have more careful drivers with that system. :D
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I like the sentiment, but it doesn't address people already in the intersection when the light changes. We need to f--- over the jaywalkers, too. :D
 
Pfft, old idea:

marshallitechelseadarre.jpg


:p
 
It would only be a hazard if the light changed green before the other lights changed from yellow to red.

you still have to check the cross traffic before proceeding.

I already have a timer on one of the lights in my commute to work, you watch the yellow comes on and goes off for the right turn arrow on the cross street then the light turns green


This just makes each stop lighted intersection a Drag race tree.

Some cities already have timed Walk timers that count down for 20 seconds then blink red for 5-10 seconds before the do not walk comes up, then there is a 3-4 second delay before the traffic light changes. Those are typically visible to a driver and he can time his go off that if he wants.

I think this is a good idea, and the green should have it too. because city officials could calibrate the lights so that if you were driving the speed limit between lights you would not have to stop on the main streets. except for emergency vehicles.
 
Bad idea, stupid idea rather. Wait I wish there was a timer display that lit up around my face before I was going to speak. Just so everyone knows that once again - "stupid idea"
 
I like it, that way I don't have to break unnecessarily when approaching a light that is about to change to green. Saves some gas.
 
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.

I completely agree, people always follow too close. Number one cause of most accidents as most are rear end collisions.

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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I can answer this for you in one word "MONEY"!! If it was harder to get a license most people and I'd say 85% or higher wouldn't have one. Automobile makers wouldn't sell as many cars which would mean less jobs. Auto insurance company's would go broke b/c you wouldn't need as many to insure so few drivers and you wouldn't have as many accidents.

That in turn would cut down on repairs for body shops, parts sold, new cars purchased, auto/junk yards, wrecker services, medical services, attourneys, traffic violations/tickets being written and more things I'm sure I forgot. Basically it would reduce jobs and money exchanging hands for services and goods.

It would also take away the freedom of a lot of people at the same time but would make our roadways a safer place to drive with less traffic jams, less smog and polution. Public transportation would have to increase 1000% and city's in the U.S would have to be layed out entirely different.

Everything is more spread out as opposed to other country's who can rely more on public transporation. So honestly it's impossible and the bottom line is too much money is to be made by allowing morons the freedom to get a license and drive. That's why the tests are easy and you have bad drivers everywhere, it just tends to be getting worse as time goes on.

Sorry I went on a bit of a rant there. :eek:
 
In a way, this already exists for some lights -- those with the pedestrian crossing countdown.
 
i think this is a great idea.. you would be surprised how many predestrians get hit or accidents happen because people are trying to look around to see if they can see the stupid walking/no walking signs to time lights and then the light doesnt change when they think its going to change..
 
Chombo said:
I like it, that way I don't have to break unnecessarily when approaching a light that is about to change to green. Saves some gas.
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if you carefully watch the intersection in the first place you dont need a "progress bar" to know when it will change...
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
i think this is a great idea.. you would be surprised how many predestrians get hit or accidents happen because people are trying to look around to see if they can see the stupid walking/no walking signs to time lights and then the light doesnt change when they think its going to change..
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No I wouldn't. What I'd be surprised at is if people actually looked where they were supposed to be looking while driving. That would knock my socks off.
 
The should do like Germany does, yellow before the green, like you're waiting to race!! Yea those were the days.
 
It's great for the 'roll past the line to make the light go faster' people, now they only have to look straight up for 3 seconds or so.
 
Haste266 said:
if you carefully watch the intersection in the first place you dont need a "progress bar" to know when it will change...
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In a perfect world where each city has the same rules about turn lanes. Unfortunately in Arizona each city is different and in some cases some intersections have different timings. I suppose I could memorize each intersection but that would be pretty damn difficult, especially for all the snow birds.
 
Count downs are good so you know when its going to change exactly. So you know when to floor it to make the light and when to floor it when it turns green ;).
 
Good idea in theory, bad idea in practice. That is my judgment.

In my city, when I barely make it through an amber-to-red changing light, there are almost always 2 cars behind me who run the red light. I could have stopped for this light, but chose not to. The two behind me very clearly could have stopped but were in too much of a rush to drive properly.

I also do mild forms of hypermiling, usually just timing red-to-green lights by gliding so I don't have to brake, unlike everyone else in my #*@%ing city. It's always HURRY HURRY HURRY TO THE RED LIGHT TO STOP....

Adding red light timings will encourage people to barrel full-speed into an intersection without knowing the conditions, with the light changing just as they cross their respective stop lines.

These facts will eventually get me t-boned, if I'm ever stupid enough to be the first to enter the intersection. One day when I'm not alert or slightly fog-headed, and BOOM! A hospital trip for me. That, or I'll be the collateral damage, the third party in an accident.

When the amber-to-red light runners combine with the red-to-green runners there will be sheer mayhem. SHEER MAYHEM!!! AAAAHHH!!!!

Of course, I'm no expert....
 
glutto said:
Good idea in theory, bad idea in practice. That is my judgment.

In my city, when I barely make it through an amber-to-red changing light, there are almost always 2 cars behind me who run the red light. I could have stopped for this light, but chose not to. The two behind me very clearly could have stopped but were in too much of a rush to drive properly.

I also do mild forms of hypermiling, usually just timing red-to-green lights by gliding so I don't have to brake, unlike everyone else in my #*@%ing city. It's always HURRY HURRY HURRY TO THE RED LIGHT TO STOP....

Adding red light timings will encourage people to barrel full-speed into an intersection without knowing the conditions, with the light changing just as they cross their respective stop lines.

These facts will eventually get me t-boned, if I'm ever stupid enough to be the first to enter the intersection. One day when I'm not alert or slightly fog-headed, and BOOM! A hospital trip for me. That, or I'll be the collateral damage, the third party in an accident.

When the amber-to-red light runners combine with the red-to-green runners there will be sheer mayhem. SHEER MAYHEM!!! AAAAHHH!!!!

Of course, I'm no expert....
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I agree 100% with the rushing to the stop light thing instead of coasting, people are in way too much of a hurry. i had some a-hole in a Bimmer flashing his high beams at me from behind just because I was coasting to a redlight a 1/4 mile ahead

Disagree 100% with getting T-boned... if you have read the comments or been more observant while driving you would know that the lights rarely, ever turn red-green for different directions at the same time. There is a delay of a couple of seconds for people running the red lights to get thru before it turns green for people going the other directions.
 
danbfree said:
I agree 100% with the rushing to the stop light thing instead of coasting, people are in way too much of a hurry. i had some a-hole in a Bimmer flashing his high beams at me from behind just because I was coasting to a redlight a 1/4 mile ahead
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It's especially nice when I'm in an empty lane beside these people. The light changes, and I casually sashay through the intersection while these guys are just accelerating.... and the process repeats itself at the next light.

danbfree said:
Disagree 100% with getting T-boned... if you have read the comments or been more observant while driving you would know that the lights rarely, ever turn red-green for different directions at the same time. There is a delay of a couple of seconds for people running the red lights to get thru before it turns green for people going the other directions.
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I'm quite observant. ;) I've had to avoid many of these people in my time driving. There might be a suitable delay where you live, but not around here. I see the results of traffic collisions all the time around here, and see many near collisions. Fortunately I rarely, if ever, drive during rush hour. If I had to, I'd switch to a bicycle and stick to side-roads, but then I'm even more vulnerable.

It makes me long for small-city traffic.
 
I like how the green lights in China flash before changing to yellow. It pretty much doubles the "slow down now" time. I wouldn't drive there, but that one thing is nice. I hate it when I'm on a 50mph road and the light turns yellow right as you hit that point when you aren't sure if you should slam the breaks or just go through. I know, I know. I should slow down at intersections, but you know I was going 60 before I got close to the lights ;)
 
danbfree said:
I agree 100% with the rushing to the stop light thing instead of coasting, people are in way too much of a hurry. i had some a-hole in a Bimmer flashing his high beams at me from behind just because I was coasting to a redlight a 1/4 mile ahead

Disagree 100% with getting T-boned... if you have read the comments or been more observant while driving you would know that the lights rarely, ever turn red-green for different directions at the same time. There is a delay of a couple of seconds for people running the red lights to get thru before it turns green for people going the other directions.
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yes there is a delay but from what I seen, I dont think the delays are long enough to counter drivers jetting through an intersection by anticipating the green light vs someone trying to cheat a red light.
Observant drivers can already anticipate green lights from viewing the lights changing red from other directions, I dont think its a good idea to make it easier for the clueless masses to do this. Next thing you know youll have idiots running through red lights before the light is even green.
 
karoc said:
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.
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I gotta agree that this light isn't the best idea but when talking about driving in China, it doesn't matter what kind of lights they have, it's just a mess driving there.
 
eon said:
yes there is a delay but from what I seen, I dont think the delays are long enough to counter drivers jetting through an intersection by anticipating the green light vs someone trying to cheat a red light.
Observant drivers can already anticipate green lights from viewing the lights changing red from other directions, I dont think its a good idea to make it easier for the clueless masses to do this. Next thing you know youll have idiots running through red lights before the light is even green.
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Very good point... I just think a full 2-second delay covers all bases pretty well, but there is ALWAYS the douche bag who just has to go through the red light because why should he have to stop when people RIGHT in front of him went though. That could easily exceed 2 seconds and especially if people start jumping the green light, it COULD create issues... I dunno, if people weren't such idiot, selfish drivers it would work fine! On one site I'm on, we had a good time ripping on people who are just 100% clueless to making a simple apex left turn and cross all kinds of double yellows and come close to clipping people doing it. Don't even get me started on that! Bottom line: Won't in the US, there are far too many lazy, selfish drivers out there...
 
glutto said:
It's especially nice when I'm in an empty lane beside these people. The light changes, and I casually sashay through the intersection while these guys are just accelerating.... and the process repeats itself at the next light.

I'm quite observant. ;) I've had to avoid many of these people in my time driving. There might be a suitable delay where you live, but not around here. I see the results of traffic collisions all the time around here, and see many near collisions. Fortunately I rarely, if ever, drive during rush hour. If I had to, I'd switch to a bicycle and stick to side-roads, but then I'm even more vulnerable.

It makes me long for small-city traffic.
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Yes, amazing how clueless people really are driving, failing to grasp the basic concept of just going the steady speed to make it thru the timed lights of the downtown city blocks or tailgate so much... Sorry the signals in your area don't have a delay when switching, they really should. Seems to really lower the accident rate. Not ALL of them do where I live (suburban Portland, Or) but almost have been updated to that.
 
Cutriss said:
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.
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This is implemented on the main roads where I live, in suburbian land, South NJ.
It works out alright, I guess. They count down from 10, but in other places I've seen them count down from a 20-ish number. Anyone with enough experience of driving will know if a light is going to change or they can look at the opposing lane to get a good sense of what is going on.

Although, it gives cops a better excuse to pull you over. Just remember: Ticket Fairies don't come out in bad weather. ;)
 
I see this as an awesome idea. Instead of trying to anticipate the green light, or just spacing out till the it pops while I'm slightly distracted, I'll know when it's time to go with certainty. I've seen so many cases where cars slowly release their brakes and drifting forward (anticipating green lights), only to see the left-turn lights go green.

The only potential abuse are people who already abuse the "safeguards" of traffic lights right now. Such as running red lights because of the delay of green lights on the other street.
 
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