[laoba]

I don't know how common these lights are around the world (I have never seen them in the US but have not been EVERYWHERE), but in China I regularly saw lights that also had a timer to the side of it counting down so the change from yellow -> red was more easily expectable. I think this would work rather well if we were all really concerned with safety.

[derekp7]

I'm not sure where I read it, may have been an article posted on HN a while ago, but just the opposite actually happens. I think it was where a countdown timer is present for the pedestrians, but since drivers can see them they tend to speed up if the light is about to change. Which causes more accidents, esp with pedestrians.

[dexen]

> since drivers can see them they tend to speed up if the light is about to change.

This is easily solved. For example, intersection just outside my window [1] has LED timers next to traffic lights, but the countdown is blanked (turned off) for the last five seconds, not to encourage reckless speeding.

The blanking appears to work just fine, judging by the way the traffic flows. I pass the intersection daily, both by car and on foot.

[1] in a mid sized city in Poland

[umurkontaci]

We also have that in my country, but I don't think this really helps while driving as I usually glimpse at the lights and keep my attention to the road, I usually don't read the timer at all. We also have very short yellow lights so you either have to kick down the accelerator or brake hard.