Yellow Traffic Lights Could Get Longer In Iowa
Do short yellow lights drive you nuts? You can just sense that as you inch closer, it's gonna be RED. Well, that could be changing.
There's a guy named Mats Jarlstrom from near Portland, Oregon. And back in 2013, he was POed when his wife got a ticket from a red light camera. She got the ticket 0.12 seconds after the light switched from yellow to red, and he believed she didn't have enough time to make it through the intersection.
Mats, who is originally from Sweden, studied electrical engineering. So he went to the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying to argue that yellow lights should be extended.
They ignored him, and fined him $500 for not having a professional engineering license. Oops. That put a stop to his quest.
But a federal judge overturned that fine earlier this year, so the mission was back on. And now Mats has taken his proposal to the Institute of Transportation Engineers, which sets the official traffic light guidelines for 90 countries including the United States.
He is proposing that, based on modern roads and cars, it makes sense to extend yellow lights from 3.2 seconds to 4.5 seconds. If they accept his proposal next year, yellow lights around the world could get longer.
(Via: The Register)