I like traffic lights… except when they are red

Why has this idea not been put into practice yet?

Traffic lights with a progress bar. Brilliant.

From here.

Comments

RodeoClown says:

They are a fantastic idea – although there is one downside. Being LEDs, they don’t generate much heat, and a bunch of places in the US are discovering that if you don’t generate heat with your lights they get covered with snow that doesn’t melt and people can’t see if it’s go or whoa time…
(although that probably just makes them more cautious drivers).

Your comment box is too far below the post btw :)

Nathan says:

This is a weird thing that I hadn't noticed before… if you click the comment link in the sidebar on the main page it takes you through to the post.

If you click on the comment link on one of the main column's stories it opens a little dropdown thing…

I'll put some work into getting the comments into a more prominent position…

Anthony Rochester says:

it might have been in Thailand that I saw traffic lights with a countdown under them for the number of seconds until it will turn green. So it has been implemented somewhere, but might just be too expensive to put everywhere..

Nathan Campbell says:

Hi Anthony,

Welcome to commenting.

I’m told this idea is pretty common throughout Asia. I’m wondering if it encourages drag racing at the lights.

I think someone once told me that there are European countries where the lights go from red to yellow to green (as well as going from green to yellow). That would also be useful.