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Concept - Next Generation Traffic Lights [PIC]

artlebedev.com — The shape of traffic lights has barely changed since they were invented—there have always been three round lights: red, yellow and green. Initially, the sections were round simply because this allowed the spherical bulb inside light the glass evenly.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 25, 2008

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  • brett1337, on 11/24/2008, -10/+634i have an idea! instead of a circle... lets make it a square!!!
  • Nosferotu, on 11/24/2008, -15/+467...I don't get why this is superior in any way.
  • fovea, on 11/24/2008, -7/+240Is it really more important to have things look futuristic rather than be actual improvements for the future? I was hoping to see a doing away with the three lights. Perhaps something in the style of a progress bar so dolts can anticipate the green, and so I stop misjudging yellow lights.
  • inactive, on 11/25/2008, -10/+190That's your brilliant idea? Square traffic lights? Give me a ***** break...
  • mtgarvey853, on 11/25/2008, -11/+153why change something that's not broken, its a waste of money
  • Gmadd, on 11/24/2008, -12/+143Why spend $$$ on infastructure when we can bail out failed companies instead?
  • dannyboy3020, on 11/25/2008, -3/+130For some reason I don't think have an indicator of when a green light is coming such a good idea
  • DforSpiD, on 11/24/2008, -1/+114...and lego is a renewable natural resource
  • steger, on 11/25/2008, -3/+109What about a squircle?
  • farfromhere, on 11/25/2008, -4/+101wouldn't that be called yellow?
  • tuanjello, on 11/24/2008, -1/+98Because they look like they were made with legos.
  • SEN5241, on 11/25/2008, -1/+88Here's an actual idea to improve traffic lights for color blind drivers (especially red/green colorblindness):

    Light a single right-most or bottom most lamp green for green signals. When it's time for yellow, change the color of that same lamp to yellow and also light the middle lamp yellow. Then when the light is red, illuminate all three lamps red.

    Example:
    [_] [_] [G] Light is green
    ...
    [_] [Y] [Y] Light turns yellow
    ...
    [R] [R] [R] Light turns red

    This way, the color-blind driver can see that the light is changing from a further distance and not have to take their eyes off the road for an extended period of time to examine which one is lit based on position within the signal housing.
  • AlienMushroom, on 11/25/2008, -1/+87It will be even better when snow stack on top of the covers. :-)
  • JokersWild, on 11/25/2008, -0/+83In my city, we have the normal 3-color round lights... BUT we also have a timer below the lights. When you have a green light, you also have a timer showing the number of seconds remaining before it turns yellow. That's been REALLY handy to have, I have to admit.

  • HamNCheese, on 11/25/2008, -10/+89wtf...

    "We have this AWESOME new traffic light concept.... Ok, get this....instead of ROUND we'll make them SQUARE!"

    Is anyone else totally underwhealmed by this or is it just me ?
  • shoppingkart, on 11/25/2008, -11/+88Looks like an external upgrade to Vista.
  • KloroFormd, on 11/25/2008, -0/+60I'd like to see some changes for colorblind people.

    My friend's father picked me up from KY on his way back to TX from OH (we both happened to be visiting family, carpooling long trips FTW. Saved me a plane ticket.), I was asleep in the passenger seat and was awoken with him slapping me in the arm asking frantically what color the flashing lights at the upcoming intersection were.
  • euphoria860, on 11/25/2008, -6/+58oh yeah, this is front page material...
  • Flare, on 11/25/2008, -19/+68This is the lame
  • inactive, on 11/24/2008, -0/+39Lego is the gift that keeps on giving.
  • nickhaskell, on 11/24/2008, -2/+38Where is the light that signals me to fly my jet car over the cars going left?
  • krnldmp, on 11/25/2008, -1/+33I never had a problem with the round ones. Why don't you figure out how to stop pot holes from forming instead.
  • xptoast, on 11/25/2008, -2/+34Saying that makes me laugh.
  • ngmcs8203, on 11/25/2008, -8/+38But how about leading up to a red?
  • vanguardanon, on 11/25/2008, -0/+29Good point. After your first line I was thinking, "Everybody knows the order, colorblind people are fine."

    But as I read on I saw your point about single flashing lights. I've also seen both red and green arrows, which would be tough for colorblind people. Sadly, I haven't thought of a good solution.
  • fusenmuse, on 11/25/2008, -1/+28The red protected turn light could be pretty bad for drivers who are color blind. Many rely on where the light is rather than the color.
  • elk1, on 11/25/2008, -0/+27this man made a thousand dollar keyboard; anything he designs must be amazing.
  • Csaliture, on 11/25/2008, -0/+27So true. This design does not allow snow to slide off the light covers which would result in some major problems in places like say Minnesota where I live.
  • Jo9100, on 11/25/2008, -5/+31The $$$ thing you're talking of has a name. It's called MONEY. Stop talking like spam mail.
  • inactive, on 11/25/2008, -5/+31The problem with that is that you are going to use 3 times more electricity than the standard illumination scheme. You have to realize that these traffic lights burn 24/7/365 and all that adds up when you start counting the number of lights in one city.
  • haobaba1, on 11/25/2008, -5/+301. Sqare is well square, it sucks and isn't imaginative at all.

    2. How about designing a Traffic light that doesn't appear to have all 3 lights engaged in full sunlight.

    3. Stop digging this lame *****.
  • deenoop, on 11/24/2008, -12/+37thank god it's only a concept and not a reality.
  • iamdan1, on 11/25/2008, -0/+24They would catch the wind better as well, making them useless in places where hurricanes would destroy them.
  • steger, on 11/25/2008, -2/+26Ahh artlebedev. I bet that traffic light will be vaporware for at least 3 years, then be 10x the cost of a traditional traffic light when it does come out.
  • floridiot2, on 11/25/2008, -1/+24SQUAGLES!!
    http://squagles.ytmnd.com/
  • penguin1908, on 11/25/2008, -0/+22how bout... red light = octagon .... yellow light = triangle... and green light an arrow pointing the direction you're going ...?
  • FreckleEars, on 11/25/2008, -0/+21It's not at all. The lights we have here are even better than this square nonsense. Some examples:

    1. Bright LED lights that are clear in all lighting and appear almost black when not light and do not reflect sunlight.
    2. Sunlight flare that juts out on the front of the lights so that sunlight from any side direction will not impede the traffic light.
    3. Sunlight flare that juts out 30cm on all sides so that if the sun is directly behind the light it will not impede the traffic light.
    4. Timer countdowns on walk signals.
    5. Support bars that do not look like they will snap in a decent breeze.

    There are others things that are awesome about our lights here but the picture only shows me some ***** I can bash it for.

    One really ***** thing about these lights; they are reflective which will be a bitch at dawn/dusk.
  • inactive, on 11/25/2008, -1/+21Brilliant!
  • blahtastic, on 11/25/2008, -0/+20Some people can't see colors.

    Invent-a-failure
  • DesertTripper, on 11/25/2008, -3/+22That's exactly what the friggin yellow light does! A countdown, or a smaller (blue?) auxiliary light that comes on 10 seconds before the yellow, would give the average motorist enough warning to either attempt to make the light or slow down for the red. I would almost guarantee that "last-second" red light running would drop off precipitously, and with no goddamned Big Brother revenue cameras.. A lot of red light running happens when you mentally commit to "making" the light without really knowing how much time is left on the green.
  • SEN5241, on 11/25/2008, -1/+18Of course the assumption is the LED signals use much less energy than the old-fashioned incandescent bulb traffic lights. We can also make the red signal scheme smaller because three light lamps will be visible much farther away regardless of color vision.

    Of course, if one life is save, I think the extra energy usage is well worth it. Let's not forget the stakes here.
  • BiggestAl, on 11/25/2008, -2/+18You don't get the problem of people seeing only 3 seconds left and speeding up to go through the lights? I think we'd get that problem here..
  • xxMarka, on 11/25/2008, -1/+17..."much"?
  • haobaba1, on 11/25/2008, -0/+15I happen to be red green color blind and this has never been an issue because the lights are positional and if he was going a safe speed he should have been able to descern the position or just stop. I wouldn't mind some squares, triangles, and circles if its not too much trouble.
  • inactive, on 11/25/2008, -1/+16Night time.
  • johndi, on 11/25/2008, -0/+15Where I live the lights blink green 3 times before turning yellow. It does help warn people that they are approaching a stale green light. It seems to help people from accidentally running red lights. However, it actually aids people who are intentionally pushing the limit. Even though it was helping most people it didn't counter the intentional offenders. So they jacked up the fine to an extreme level and added red light cameras everywhere to counter that problem. (The fine is nearly a year's salary for some people). Now people slam on their brakes on blinking green lights to avoid getting a mug shot. People rich enough that the fine is only a mild annoyance still drive with impunity. The green light slammers are almost as bad as the red light runners. Curse you law of unintended consequences!

    When I lived in Germany the lights went to yellow before going from red to green as well as before turning red. It didn't seem to increase jackrabbit starts and did seem to help dolts from sitting at a green light until the people behind them blasted their horns. Done properly neither of these are bad ideas, but studies need to be done before rolling them out on a wide basis.
  • ldner77, on 11/25/2008, -2/+17"Squircle"

    Sounds naughty
  • Dropperbr, on 11/25/2008, -1/+15http://zerohora.clicrbs.com.br/rbs/image/4133989.j ...

    They should make with second, like they do in brazil.
    So next time I go on vacation.. I dont have to say..
    Humm.. we dont have those in the U.S
  • inactive, on 11/25/2008, -1/+15Fer color blind peeps, green is always on the bottom, red on top so even a color blind person can figure out to go or stop.
  • jacko87, on 11/25/2008, -0/+13I don't think many people have a problem with the lights the way they are...do they? These images are super cool looking and everything, but the cost to replace all the old lights for such a minor improvement is extremely far from worth it.
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