Countdown timers for traffic lights.

[randomness]

I'm sure you've seen those countdown timers for walk signals. There are a number of them around in the States. I'm not sure how places decide where to install them.

Here in Bangkok, they've installed countdown timers for the traffic lights at some major intersections. I'm not entirely sure why. On the one hand, I suppose having a bright red "15" next to the red light, counting down to "14", "13", etc. might get one to wait more patiently. On the other hand, seeing a red "89" counting down might encourage one to run the light. And I'm not sure which a yellow "3" encourages.

Comments

[bookly.livejournal.com]

I had seen a few before, but I think the majority of them appeared while the APEC gentrification was going on. On the other hand, I can't imagine that they put them up so that Bush will know how many minutes he has to wait at each traffic light. (Oh, how I wish it were true...)

Oh, yeah. Unless you actually see the light turn red, you don't know how many seconds it's been since it turned red. I've noticed, and Carrie has pointed out, that the same traffic light seems to be red for different periods, depending on the time of day, the amount of traffic, Thaksin's mood, the price of the stock market, and the amount of precipitation. Go figure....