Can someone explain to me why there are not clearly visible timers on stop lights? At a minimum, drivers should be aware of how many seconds there are on yellow lights. Not every intersection is the same, and the timing differs, I am sure, at the same intersections at different times of the day. If we are willing and able to spend money on red light cameras (nominally in the name of promoting safety), then I refuse to accept that the technology to put timers on lights is not available and I refuse to believe it is not a more cost effective and freedom-friendly way of enhancing traffic safety.
But when was traffic “safety” ever really about safety. Do you think if there were private competition in road managing and building that such an innovation would not long ago have surfaced? After all, one thing the private managers would be doing is trying to encourage people to use their services.
Has any reader seen such a technology employed (not in the don’t walk signs, but actually in the traffic signals). Wouldn’t it also be useful to have timers on the red and green lights too? I’ve seen them in other countries, but not anywhere I have traveled in America.
Your hubris is palpable, your overlords will decide what you need to know! 😉
Whenever possible I pay attention to the light for pedestrians; best is when those have a timer, and even if they don’t the flashing hand switching to the solid hand gives at least some indication of how close the green is to switching to yellow.
But yeah, timers should be on all the lights.
You have to be kidding. Why have timers on the lights when you can have surveillance cameras rigged to catch red light violators? Those cameras can also be used to keep track of where you are: some day the national police will be on the lookout for all economists who opposed the humongospendulus stimulus package. Ve have our sources of INformation, Herr Rizzo.