Traffic light countdown timers, what a fanastic idea !

Justin Smith

Justin Smith

Justin Smith

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Sheffield
When we were in China a few years ago we noticed that many of the traffic lights had countdown timers on them, and what a fantastic idea they are. Not only do they save fuel and wear and tear on your vehicle* they must save loads of the stress of urban driving. If you know exactly when the light is changing you`ll know if it`s worth keeping you foot on the gas or whether you should just lift off and slow down gently. Or, if stopped at the light, whether it`s worth switching your engine off.
They also have the added benefit that those imbeciles who go through red lights have even less excuse than they did before !
If the Government really are bothered about reducing energy usage, why haven`t we got them here ?

* If used in conjunction with good observation and anticipation, which, I accept, is by no means certain......
 
The flipside to this is it may encourage people to either race to beat the timer (and thus get through the lights) or use the timer to judge when to charge away (i.e. racing).

I would bet that the H&S bods in the UK would have a field-day.
 
ci_newman said:
The flipside to this is it may encourage people to either race to beat the timer (and thus get through the lights) or use the timer to judge when to charge away (i.e. racing).

I would bet that the H&S bods in the UK would have a field-day.
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Don't people tend to do that anyway?

Typically if the traffic lights are turning amber people tend to speed up the road to get to the traffic lights here :p
 
I think Canada has them in some instances, and I know Saudi Arabia does, although over there it was to stop people from getting impatient and running red lights because they think they're stuck on red.

I don't really see them reducing fuel usage though. Would people really bother turning their engine off for the sake of 20 seconds at a red light? I can honestly say I wouldn't.
 
ci_newman said:
The flipside to this is it may encourage people to either race to beat the timer (and thus get through the lights) or use the timer to judge when to charge away (i.e. racing).

I would bet that the H&S bods in the UK would have a field-day.
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Totally this. I spent several months in China and had to get taxis everywhere. The drivers definitely were out to beat the timer everytime. Some just carried on even though the lights had gone red several seconds earlier. I had some rather scary taxi rides whilst out there to say the least!
 
TheVoice said:
I think Canada has them in some instances, and I know Saudi Arabia does, although over there it was to stop people from getting impatient and running red lights because they think they're stuck on red.

I don't really see them reducing fuel usage though. Would people really bother turning their engine off for the sake of 20 seconds at a red light? I can honestly say I wouldn't.
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I would turn my engine off it was over 30 seconds, but there would be just as big a fuel saving achieved by drivers being able to lift off the accelerator hundreds of yards before the light if they know they aren`t going to get through it anyway. That is of course assuming the said drivers actually have any observation and anticipation skills, which many don`t appear to have judging by the number who accelerate hard away from lights when the traffic queue is stationery only 200 yards in front of them.......
 
Gixer said:
Totally this. I spent several months in China and had to get taxis everywhere. The drivers definitely were out to beat the timer everytime. Some just carried on even though the lights had gone red several seconds earlier. I had some rather scary taxi rides whilst out there to say the least!
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Drivers do that here even with no timers, I really don`t see it would encourage more people to go through red lights. If anything it`d mean fewer doing it because I am prepared to (grudgingly) accept that some drivers go through on red simply because they`ve misjudged it, as opposed to doing it on purpose, which in my opinion, most traffic light jumpers do.....
 
Gixer said:
Totally this. I spent several months in China and had to get taxis everywhere. The drivers definitely were out to beat the timer everytime. Some just carried on even though the lights had gone red several seconds earlier. I had some rather scary taxi rides whilst out there to say the least!
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Yep, I've had some terrifying taxi rides in China, real life affirming moments. Did you also find that a lot of taxi drivers will continuously accelerate and back off all the time (every few seconds), even when on a relatively empty road? Makes me feel car sick really quickly, and I can't understand why they do it.
 
i think it would work. i live in central bristol and my trip to work potentially has a minutes wait at certain traffic lights, if you know you're waiting that long i'd definitely turn my engine off.

B@
 
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