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Countdown traffic light could end road rage, claims designer
By Claire Bates
Last updated at 11:19 AM on 17th December 2009
Drivers who are fed up of the endless delays at red traffic lights will be pleased to hear of an innovative design that tells you how long you have to wait.
The Eko Traffic Light has a circular progress bar on the red light that works in a similar way to the clock on the popular TV show Countdown.
Eko traffic light
The Eko traffic light shows drivers how long they have to wait using a circular progress bar

Designer Damjan Stankovic told the Mail online:'This counter would divide the time spent at traffic lights with a number of segments and then slowly turn them off one by one. It is possible to change the length of time in the same way as it is altered on current traffic lights.'
Mr Stankovic claimed the device would reduce stress felt by drivers and could even help the environment.
He said: 'Since you know exactly how long you have to wait you can sit back and clear your head for a while. No need to keep your foot on the gas. Relax.'
He added: 'When you think about it, you don't need this information counted in seconds, you just need to see the speed of the progress bar to give you an estimate of the time.'
The outer rim of the traffic light turns from red to black in a clockwise direction
Mr Stankovic said drivers could also turn off their engines while waiting for the green light and that the design may also make driving safer.
'With the Eko light both drivers and pedestrians can be fully aware of how much time they have left before the light changes and that way reduce the chance for potential traffic accident,' he said.
For that reason he decided only to include a counter for the red light as the green light might encourage people to start off too quickly.
The Serbian designer said the Eko can be easily installed onto existing traffic light systems that have a bigger red light.
He spent three years developing initial sketches into a prototype that was a winner at this year's Red Dot design awards.

He said the prototype would need a few more tweaks before it is ready for the roads but he was in negotiations with a few manufacturers. Similar versions are already operational in Ukraine, Thailand and Brazil.
His other designs include an electric wall socket that springs out of the wall when pressed and a drinking glass with a mosaic design that only reveals a hidden message when filled with liquid.

There would be no point in attaching these to most traffic signals in the UK as most of them operate by detectors rather than running to fixed times.

The idea that traffic lights are "demand-responsive" is, in my view, largely a myth.

I notice so many drivers round our way only engage first gear WHEN the green light shows, I was taught to select a gear on the amber...so many don't pull away til the lights have turned green for a second or two...if this system helps speed up these types of driver then it is a good thing but i wonder if new drivers are being taught these (bad) habits of not selecting first gear until the lights turn green???

The easiest solution would be to make the red light mean "give way", that way the councils can't use traffic lights to restrict our freedom as they are doing.

I believe a lot of traffic signal controllers have sensors. I know most of the ones around poole do, like the one at the end of turlin moor, you can approach that, it'll be on red, and as long as there's nothing else around it'll be green as you cross the line.
However there are also timings, and if there's vehicles triggering all the sensors (rush hour?) then I guess it is as good as there being none. Then there's the systems of connecting the lights together, in the theory that congestion can be 'eased' by moving congestion from one place to another. I don't get that, but it introduces more timings at a junction for conditions elsewhere.
One big problem, which you can also see in poole, is sensor faults. From what I've read (and it makes sense) if a sensor fault is detected then the controller will assume there is always a vehicle/vehicles waiting wherever that sensor is pointing, even if there actually isn't. So all that is left is timings. I remember seeing this in hamworthy, all night the lights would keep changing to green for one side road! That's been fixed now and it doesn't change unless there's a vehicle on that side road.

So in the most complicated system the progress bar could jump around quite a lot both up and down, and in rest-on-red situations it would quickly go from infinity to 2 seconds as you approach (red+amber).

So the council want to restrict our freedom, but fix faulty sensors on traffic lights?

From work that Martin Cassini has done in London it appeared that lights were timed to delay traffic.
These deliberately long red light delays contribute to stop traffic flow and significantly to congestion. As to why this is happening is open for debate and more evidence is required to be certain.

I agree. The days when traffic lights were used to "assist" the motorist or the flow of traffic have LONG gone.

Not so. There is one only set in our village/town and they are three-way. When traffic is light, they'll all be on red and change as a car approaches. I've even approached them as they've turned to red then turned back to green so that I didn't have to stop.

Just shows that it can be done.