Reader Jeffrey Mindich, a senior news anchor at International Community Radio in Taipei, writes:
I just happened to be working on a story about traffic accidents while reading your March 10 post on the subject and I thought you might find my story of interest.
About a year ago in Taiwan, they started installing countdown timers at traffic lights at a number of intersections. Some counted down the amount of time remaining ’till a green light turned yellow and then red, while others counted down the amount of time remaining before a red light turned green. Some intersections had both. Here’s a picture:
It’s a fact that a certain number of accidents are caused both by people who jump the gun on the red light, and those who try to make it through the intersection after the light has already turned red. Ostensibly, the reason for the timers was to give people more precise information about exactly how much time they had remaining before the light changed, in the hope of reducing accidents.
The results are quite interesting. A research institute within Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation released a report showing that at 187 intersections which had the timers installed, those that counted down the remaining time on green lights saw a doubling in the number of reported accidents, with a 33 percent increase in the number of injuries, while those that counted down until a red light turned green saw a halving in both the number of reported accidents and injuries. Intersection that had both red and green light timers saw a 19 percent increase in reported accidents and a 23 percent increase in injuries.
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So, the implication is that people will make dangerous decisions to make it through a green light before it turns red?
Is it possible that these numbers will decrease over time as drivers become more aware of what “1 second” really means when they are driving? If you asked the average driver how far they think their car would go in 1 second at 45 miles an hour, I don’t think they would even be close.
Maybe this is something that would be remedied with time.
Interesting article, thanks.
If you want to really reduce traffic accidents you have to raise the “cost” of getting into an accident. Place a dagger on the steering wheel and see how many people run red lights.
I think it would be interesting to “fake the time” (using “longer” seconds that result in a promise of a shorter waiting time) and measure the difference. I belive it makes sense that the (seemingly) shorter waiting time should reduce the proportion of people who decide not to wait. Also it’s interesting question how much longer a second can be so that the cheating is still not noticeable.
this is interesting because at some of the intersections here in Colorado has timers — the crossing walk timers. Keep in mind those timers times the amount of time the lights turns yellow, and not red. I find them very helpful whether I should gun my engine some more to make it through either through the green or yellow, or just lay off and coast to a stop.
I think it makes perfect sense. The green light timer would likely provide a challenge to drivers who wish to beat it (and therefore go speeding through), whereas the red light timer would assuage jumpy drivers. I cannot tell you the number of times when I was a regular driver that I imagined I saw a green light and almost gunned it.
Counting down the remaining time for green light increases the number of traffic accidents. That seems easy to comprehend. Counting down the remain time for red light decreases the number of accidents? I can’t imagine why. This will make a very fascinating psychological study though.
Sun Tzu had a quote, to paraphrase, “never stop a man on his way home.”
This corresponds to that millennia old saying. By attempting to time the green light turning red and thus stop someone on their way home, more accidents happened.
However, by having the timer on the red light turning green and thus enabling someone to know when they would next be allowed to move — “enabling” their trip home — less accidents occurred.
The logic is simple and best stated in the movie, Starman. “Red light stop, green light go, yellow light go very fast.”
Everyone tries to beat the red light. Giving a timer for it just encourages it.
Commenter #2: Put a dagger in the steering wheel, and MORE people will run red lights. Slamming on your brakes to stop will thrust your body into the dagger.
Maybe you mean the dagger should be in the air bag …