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.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
We have the same “countdown to red” timers here in Toronto. I definitely find myself checking the status on the countdown timer, and then accelerating appropriately to make it through the light.
These timers have removed the ambiguity about the time remaining on a green light. We now know exactly how much time we have left, and react accordingly…
We also have them in the Dominican Republic. They’ve been very effective so far.
I hate to toot my own horn (OK, not so much), but I made this very same suggestion in the “Traffic Jam” thread.
I may be the only one who thinks so…but, MAN, I’M A GENIUS!
I wonder who I should write in order to obtain royalties from this idea?
Ha!
And here I was thinking that the Amber light was the one meant to tell you to stop now. Guess all those hours in drivers ed. were useless.
Unless the timers are only visible to the direction in which they face, the effect of a red light countdown might be on the drivers using the green, not on those waiting for the light to turn green. That suggests the accident rate drops because drivers on green worry more about cars starting to move and thus are more careful; if you worry that cars will be using the red light countdown as a timer to go, go, go, then the last thing you want to do is to get caught broadside in the intersection. That makes economic sense.
What’s new in this ? We have had this in Mumbai since ages…..
I actually think this is a good idea. Especially in cities where the red lights are camera enforced. I can’t tell you how many times I am driving and looking at the green light hoping it doesn’t turn yellow and I get stuck with a big decision. I find myself slamming the breaks when it’s yellow even if I am past the white line(on big intersections). They say it is to prevent accidents, but it is actually for revenue. I guess my city could afford this timer, but oh wait, then they wouldn’t make any dough.
In Russia the Yellow lights comes on with the Red a few seconds before the change to Green, so drivers have a ‘Green soon’ warning.
It seemed to be used as a chance to put the car in gear and rev the engine. I saw babooshkas literally running for their lives to get out of the way of the oncoming traffic. With good reason. Enough near misses convinced me that that driving population wasn’t going to hit the brakes for a mere pedestrian.