Added on February 26, 2019  The News Wheel   , ,
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Texas Town Reduces the Number of Red-Light-Running Incidents by Extending the Interval for Yellow Lights

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Cars but without cars
A longer yellow light was a welcome sign for many Texas residents
Photo: Disney/Pixar

All too often, drivers try to speed through a yellow light, only for it to turn red by the time they enter the intersection. That can be a pricey mistake for drivers, as running a red light comes with a hefty fee, or worse, an accident.

There isn’t a lot of time between when a light turns yellow and when it turns red. An experiment conducted by the City Council of Denton, Texas, shows that when the duration of a yellow light was extended, the number of red-light-running incidents decreased.

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In April 2018, Denton’s city council selected one of its busiest intersections for the experiment. A year previously in April 2017, a record 91 red-light-running incidents were recorded at that intersection.

For the experiment, the yellow light interval was extended from 3.5 seconds to 4.5 seconds. The effect of doing so was almost immediate.

During the month of May, only 19 drivers ran red lights at the intersection. By comparison, 40 drivers ran a red lights at that spot during May of 2017.

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In fact, the highest recorded number of red-light runs during the experiment occurred during September, with just 25 incidents. That’s less than half of the 59 red-light-running incidents recorded during September 2017.

Although the experiment effectively reduced the number of drivers that ran red lights, it seemed to have no effect on the number of accidents that occurred at the intersection. Five accidents occurred at that spot during 2017. By comparison, seven accidents occurred during 2018.

Still, the city council is pleased with the experiment and plans to introduce the extended yellow light interval for two more intersections this year. Drivers in Denton are likely also pleased with the decision.

News Source: The Drive