The LED Traffic Light and the Danger of "But Sometimes!"
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 май 2024
- You can support this channel on Patreon! Link below
Around the mid-2000’s, the LED traffic light began making its way onto the scene. Recent developments in LED technology meant that energy efficient replacements for the standard incandescent lamp were beginning to appear. Municipalities rejoiced with the energy savings they provided, but in cold climates they weren’t met with quite as warm a welcome. Not producing sufficient heat to melt snow on their lenses, some drivers became confused by ambiguous signals and caused fatal accidents.
This video tells the tale of why this newfound “problem” generated harsh criticism to the new technology, and explains why this reaction is entirely dumb and regressive.
Watch me take apart one of these traffic light modules here:
• Teardown of an LED Tra...
You can support this channel on Patreon! Patrons of the channel are what keep these videos coming. By offering their generous support for this channel, I have been able to make this my full-time ambition. If you’re interested in becoming one of the awesome people who make this possible, please check out my Patreon page. Thanks for your consideration!
/ technologyconnections
Also, you can follow me on Twitter!
/ techconnectify
And thank you to the following Patrons!
Charlie Quigley, Dakota Williams, Adam Erickson, Kevin Terrell, Tommi Hares, Trevor Smith, Thomas Fuchs, Callum Brieske, Tomas, Chuck Floyd, Eitan Tal, Emil Gilliam, Örn Arnarson, Alberto Amatucci, etho624, Chris Giddings, Tomasz Kolinko, Carles Codony, Samuel Plainfield, Jason McMillon, TeaChest Media, Michael Pacheco, Jason Ganiatsas, Mike Gerow, Marc Schroth, Andrew J Thom, Samuel Blakey, Mrpirate707, Frank Harris, Joseph Spiros, Patrick Meister, Sergey Kiselev, Clara Latter, Ashley Grant, Scott Emmett O'Donnell, Tianyu Ge, jeekl, rozboris, Kelly Rose, Paul Fisher, Stephen Vrazel, Applied Science, Peter ford, Sophie Haskins, James Id, Brendan Sheehy, Jay Foreman, Rich Theobald, Kyle Olson, Bryan Reid, Quinton Wilson, Jeremy DeGuzman, Sean Spark, Lucas Hartbarger, Taylor Cuzela, David Lastres, Granger Meador, Jeremy Kitchen, Jason Wellband, Shane Belaire, Paul Emmerich, Matthew Rossi, Paul Craigie, Alex Smith, Nick, Tyler, Paul Williams, Steven Hidy, Fredrik Grufman, Kollin O'Dannel, RJ Kent, Yona, Kevin Strehl, Tony DeSimone, Mike Bailey, Maggie Brown, Howard Kraut, TM, Mark Nicholas Wales, Jason D., T.J. Steckbeck, Pavlo Pravdiukov, Tobias Faller, Marco Anastasi, Peter Byrd, Trix Farrar, Matthew Razza, Mitchel J. Mullin II, Jakob Strande Langgaard, Jan StavÄ›l, Paul Walton, Matt Falcon, Steven First, Denver Alexander, Conor Hennessy Sykes, FinaleGrande, Christopher Dickey, OnlyOneSolutionTBHFam, Matt Sackett, Tim Juchcinski, Wayne Marsh, Ernie Smith, foophoof, Stein Strindhaug, Hank Eskin, Brady Brown, Giacomo Scaparrotti, Winfield Trail, Luke Biddle, Marc Ethier, Joseph Hill, John Semander, Bill Basch, Robert Toth, Magnus Tranum, blouerat, PK, Richard Lindsey, Lars JJ, Patrick Musson, Matt Taylor, Johan Schoeman, Thomas Jew, Josef Citrine, Marcus Schwartz, Ryan Cozzubbo, Christopher Bassett, Julian Rapoport, Ed Hall, Jason Portwood, Jesse Cardone, Michael Snowden, Drew McClain, Boh00711, Jon-André Haraldstad, The8TrackKid, Daniel J Schless, Sebi Jecklin, Casey Kikendall, Craig Leverenz, Charlie Hankin, Andres Plaza, Revenge, Matthew Baron, André, Gerald Monaco, Tab Patterson, Jason Weathered, h.drew foy, Roger Beal, Gantradies, Chris Hartl, Steve Stone, Brian G. Shacklett, Colton Aubrey Hooke, Paul Mills, Christopher Luna, Kotanu, Brendan Terrett, Techmoan, Mike Mason, Elijah Reeds, Christopher Jett, Justin Talbot, Steven Metcalf, Verysofisticated, Lolucoca, John McLusky, Ashleigh R, Stephen Bell, Logan Beenken, Eric Wood, Stephen Pick, BlancoGrande, Matthew Giraitis, James Ryan, Robert Joscelyne, Ellis M. Eisen, Francis Fisher, Kedar Deshpande, Lukas Komischke, Dave Anderson, Felix Freiberger, Dane Peterson, Brent LaRowe, Aerospyke, Kieran Cox, Hunter Schwisow, Logan Kriete, Rafał Wiosna, Adam D. Ruppe, Audin Malmin, Eric Hansen, Noah McCann, Jason R Scheuren, Rufo Sanchez, The War Academy, Yaniv, Emil Gilliam 
Наука
This could be a TED talk: "The Danger of 'But Sometimes'". Honestly, it's better than a lot of TED talks.
Not as insightful as 2070 Paradigm Shift
TED talks are the epitome of classroom boredom. My English teacher would play one every week, and they all were the most dry and irrelevant talking points ever.
@@DatamasterCorporation
"But how can a TED talk be inspirational? [booming reverb]
The answer... is simple.
[dramatic pause]
You have to give old information [index finger raised decisively] ... as if it were new."
Too good to be a TardTalk
But it is a LED talk
As an engineer, I found the “but sometimes” discussion here so refreshing. There’s such a tendency to squash the new idea because something unexpected happens. If our first reflex is to give up whenever something isn’t perfect, we kill our chances at progress.
Network and computer security has a similar phenomenon: the well funded and determined hacker. It is often used to justify overreach and usually prevents good enough measures from implementation.
“But if someone …”
Engineer here, was going to say the same thing. So frustrating.
talk to the stupid anti vaxers
Everyone wants a 100% successful solution. 99.9999999% is just foot dragging.
Best is the enemy of better.
On the railroad, we ran into 2 problems with using led modules for railway signals. 1. The snow did obscure the signal indication. 2. The green led was too bright for train crews during night operations.
Both problems were quickly resolved. Visor hoods were added to signals to keep snow out (often referred to as Darth Vader signals). Dimmers were added to the green led at night.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's still a lot of work.
@@pfsantos007
No more work than having to change bulbs.
And the bulb changing has to be done quite often when the number of signals is factored in.
@@lordgarion514 Traffic light bulbs don't need to be changed anywhere **NEAR** as often as house ones. That's why they lingered for years and years and years. They just slowly turn kind of dark and crap instead.
@@tsm688
No, they don't.
But they do have to be changed a *LOT* more than traffic LEDs......
Just like they make commercial grade incandescents better than what they make for homeowners, so too are the commercial LEDs.
@@pfsantos007 Why do you want dolphins to die? Seriously, the perfectly functional bulbs that were removed and the fixtures that were taken down are doing quite well in a landfill...........but, dead seals rejoice?
imagine we would be using LEDs all along and then suddenly a company comes along "Our new lights have the added benifit of heating up all year long, so they can melt ice in the winder and for that added benifit you must maintain them at least every 2 years"
If another better solution hadn't been found for ice buildup, I imagine there would be quite a few places that would consider that an upgrade for at least some of their lights...
But it's not really a benefit with all the added cons?
Another benefit for incandescent lamps is it helps to maintain jobs in a doom-ish future with few jobs for humans. High maintenance = sustainable humankind!!
It is not surprise that SkyNet used LED lights in its robots.
@@karpabla humans don’t need jobs to survive, common misconception. No need to invent busy work.
@@karpabla If you want to create jobs, ban washing machines.
I remember my extended family in FLORIDA bitching about the snow vulnerabilities of LED lights years ago. Lol.
Hahahahaha....that's hilarious. Some people are such sheeple. Just repeating what they hear on TV or media
Come on, man, global cooling is a real threat to Florida's traffic lights!
Kinda funny I’ve never heard anyone complain, I live in an area where this happens in the winter.
It's a real winter issue here in upstate NY. I guess that's why we go to Florida to escape this danger?
And then here's me in Ohio. Big rip.
"But people are stupid, and accidents happen"
I need that on a bumper sticker.
"Never underestimate the stupidity of humans" ( to answer your question: I am quoting myself and since I worked in civil engineering I guess it is a quote from an Engineering technician)
90% of people are caused by accidents.
@@NeilRashbrook lol
@Americannovice Twocentnovice :o
Ahhhh you beat me to it by 7 months.. hahaha
Railway signals always used two bulbs in each light, so that when a bulb blew, the light still lit up, but not as brightly. Loco crews were supposed to report this to control, who would pass it on to the signal electricians for remedial action.
Railway signals have specific "patterns" so if a bulb is blown it becomes evident right away. Signs are more complicated than a simple green/yellow/red.
The train driver not only has to report a irregular signal he also has to ask permission before crossing (depends on the type of irregularity).
Back in 2012 they were in the process of replacing the lights on large antennas with LEDs, and we noticed they were almost impossible to see with night-vision. That posed a considerable threat to us on helicopter crews during night flights, where we'd periodically have to lift up our NVDs to ensure there wasn't some skinny, hidden 1000ft tower directly in front of us.
though to be fair, this is another thing that is probably better to fix separately then just doing it the old way.
Solution is surely to include high power IR LEDs mixed with the visible red so the NVG picks up the IR light?
wtf is a literal Night Stalker just casually commenting on this youtube video about street lights?
You can’t see LEDs on nightvision?
Why
@@lucakrokrowinkel9576LEDs are so efficient because they produce little waste energy, in the forms of infrared radiation, heat, and ultraviolet. Night vision detects infrared light. No infrared= no see with infrared detector
The mark of a good presenter.... talks about something as common as traffic lights for 18 mins.... and I can't stop watching.
I can stop watching.... I lasted until just under 5 minutes before it became so amazingly boring that I gave up.
I made it halfway, he's made his point by then.
Alain daskapitalvolumeone.txt
@@boleslawpetroski9681 Yeah, I tried reading that. Fastest put down ever. Hitler's Mein Kampf was a rambling essay as well. Making most of his main points at the start of his book, the rest was just a diatribe.
@@alainarchambault2331 i cant read the second volume its possibly illegal in poland
hi, i'm an electrician. a tiny 40watt heater with a built in thermostat that kicks on at a preset temp, costs about $5. There's your solution. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
1 star.
So the heaters turn on any time its cold, not just when it snows?
@@JaredReabow better than always on
now you add complexity to system. before that, there was just a light. now a light and heating element.
You could possibly put a sensor in front of it that looks to a reflector somewhere on the hood of the lamp, if it cannot see the sensor, thermostat turns the heat on. One heater, three sensors just in case.
This is actually a very persistent problem where I live. Right now, any traffic light that faces south is completely frozen over and useless. We get high winds and very fine snow this time of year; when I look out the window the snow is practically moving horizontally. The problem too with "treating it as a stop sign", at least here, is it's multi-lane traffic in all directions and only one side of the lights are out: the rest are still functional, leaving half the people trying to obey the lights and the other half trying to treat it as a 4-way stop. People just don't know what to do and it's backed the hell up. There hasn't been any effort from the city to actually take any of the steps to mitigate it (heaters or that shade thing) either so it basically boils down to "hope you don't crash". It definitely depends where you live, since that "but sometimes" is a "very common all winter" kind of issue here.
It definitely depends where you live, since that "but sometimes" is a "very common all winter" kind of issue here. --> I would have said the same, as well as the problem of only part of the lights not being visible, hence STOP-sign rules are confusing. But.... If it is that very common, well.... come on city !!!!!! There are solutions out there.
Sounds like a temporary force-majeure -- and that's actually when a traffic policeperson is supposed to get out of the cruiser, put on a warm coat, pull out the staff & whistle, and regulate traffic by hand signals. At least that's how a temporary severe weather hindrance is solved here in the 'developing world'.
@@seredachan Yeah, good luck with that. Canada has sky-high taxes but next to nothing to show for it: our infrastructure and public services are horrid.
Indeed. I don't know why he's pretending snow only happens for 2 months a year.
Snow often starts here in October and can easily keep happening until June.
When they upgraded everything in our intersections a couple years ago they simply changed out for different incandescents.
@@seredachan and that's different from sending out a maintenance guy because...?
Oh right, it's not, they're probably getting paid about the same only the maintenance guy isn't going to try and rip you off if you screw up.
I remember back when LEDs were first being considered for traffic lights they had a problem with getting a green LED! The red and the amber were easy but for some technical reason the green was a problem. I think that's why the "green" as actually closer to blue in LED traffic lights. 🙂
I remember the yellow being the last color to be available, but that was 20 years ago and I partied hard back then. We were just phasing in the 18 led units that directly replaced the bulb. The sealed units with lots of small LEDs sucked to replace in the field.
The lens is Blue on the incandescent traffic lights for the Green light.
@@shakehandswithdanger7882 actually, yellow and amber were available very early along with red (granted the first yellows were red dies with yellow casing ^^')
Green arrived late, but i think it was blue that was the hardest to get "in the die". Other colors use III-V materials for the die, while blue required to develop SiC semiconductors to get that color.
But these were somewhat short lived anyway since near UV LEDS with colored phosphors became the norm shortly afterwards which is what we have now.
Interesting aside... Here in the UK the railways still have some semaphore signals which also have illuminated lenses that can be seen in the dark. On these what is always referred to as green is actually blue. This is a hangover from when they were originally lit by oil lamps where the yellow flame combined with the blue lens gave a green indication and even though they are now all lit by electric light they carried on fitting the blue lens.
A friend told me a blue tint can be helpful to people with red-green colorblindness so affected folks don't have to rely on the position of the light (red is always topmost for vertical lights).
I'm a traffic electrician in Ontario Canada. This guy is spittin straight facts. The Lack of municipalities and local governments wanting to adapt to new technologies and their fear of innovation. Just keeps my on call phone ringing and the double time adding up on my timesheet. I wish they would take our suggestions. It's also crazy to see how crumbling the infrastructure actually is in the US. Always spend a dime to save a nickel.
Problem is.… Although he quotes $1.93 for the cost of Incandescant Bulbs, most municipalities have bought them in the 100,000s at a discount price of 2 cents each. They want to use up all this old stock before buying LEDs.
How can you pay for infrastructure and social programs when you're spending 1.4 trillion dollars of taxpayer money to give major corporations large tax breaks? - the conservative mindset in America.
@@ananthropomorphictalkinggo6641 or sending hundreds of millions dollars to foreign countries for liberal pet projects like gender studies in Pakistan.....
@@anthony9193 that was trump's budget lmfao
@Frank Silvers ad hominem attacks are a sign of feeble intellect and weak arguments. How embarassing for you.
Randomly stumbled across this channel - was like “Wow, this guy seems really familiar.” Then it gets to the picture of the intersection and I realize I know that intersection. 🤦♀️ Pretty sure I went to the same high school as him, but we never had any classes together or even talked.
Welp. Congrats! You know you’ve made it when your ex-peers stumble upon you by accident!
Was he out in school?
@@TheFaustianMan what do you mean?
@@DestroyerOfAglets he was asking if he was openly gay in high school.
Noticed that intersection too, I've seen that place
@@jeffbyrd6003 wait, is he gay?
I live in Moscow, as you can imagine when it snows it snows here. We've had LED lights for close to 15 years now, I have been driving for 12 of those and I have never seen a traffic light obstructed by snow. My only gripe with LED lights is they're obscenely bright at night, but that's a minor trade off for being able to see them consistently during the day when, you know, most people actually drive.
Same. Never seen one obstructed by snow/ice either in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Also I feel like the new hoodless design also helps - without the hood less snow could even potentially accumulate and leds have plenty of light output to be seen through the snow/ice that can build up
@FreymanArt you know, the might actually dim with lower light levels, but if you've stared at LEDs long enough, then you probably noticed that they sort of always find a way to irritate your gaze no matter how dim or at what angle you look at them. I still maintain that that's not such a big problem seeing as you may actually not see classic bulbs during the day at all.
I had always thought the reason for the delayed green right arrow was to account for left-turners in opposing traffic who are either trying to race the yellow light or clear the middle of the intersection where they've waited the full light cycle to turn left.
The first year that LED lights were deployed in my area, we had a massive snowstorm. roughly 50% of of the LED lights in the city (in the direction of the wind), were difficult to see, and a good 5% of intersections the snow was so thick as to be impossible to see the lights. It caused quite a bit of ruckus, as change is bad when it negatively affects you. Convenience trumps price when you can't see the cost.
Mind you, this was the only year it was an issue. Heaters were installed on the LED light fixtures, and LED lights have been a blessing ever since.
They're junk. The holdouts are the ones who won this battle. They can now use screw-in edison style LEDs, which are now cheap and widely available in the classic fixtures, getting all the benefit with none of the cost of the overpriced (and mostly crappy) "replacement" fixtures ... most of which have since been replaced /a second time/.
@@Johnyquest1 you really think that leaving the design that gets dirty and blocks light *from the inside* and also having a fixture whith no way of warming up is a good idea?
you just made the only choice of options in wich now you have the problems (accounting on light delivery) of both devices and say that it's "a good idea" just because you just said so?
yeah they could have used Edison style LEDs, but they didn't because it's a foolish idea at best.
Those white/blue light LEDs damage eyes at night, temporarily blind people at night, interrupt the circadian rhythm, and emit frequencies of light that can effectively be used as "radar" to track people. These documents and patents are easy to Google. It's not a "conspiracy theory".
As soon as the snow building up on lights was mentioned my first thought was “why don’t they just put a car windshield defroster on the lens” and I’m so glad someone actually went and made it
Your mention of snow reminds me of the issue of road reflectors and snow plows. It is because of snow plow that you will find very few road reflectors where it snows. Why because they can’t standup to being wacked by the plows blade.
And yes I have the solution to this problem. It has solar powered LED lighting and via Bluetooth the plow can adjust the light to meet conditions. And some other features.
Just the base model (no LED’s) will save more lives and money then all other life/safety items combined.
I also have dozens of other items that save time money and grief.
@@gerhardschemel3565 where I live we 100% have reflectors on all the roads. They just have pieces of metal on the side of the reflector that guide the plow blade over them, without harming the metal or reflector.
@@tankerkiller125 where is it you live? And would you please send me a photo of one? Thank you
@@gerhardschemel3565 this is what one looks like, I live in northern Ohio where 7-8 inches of snow is regular. blog.stop-painting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Snowplowable-Road-Reflector.jpg
@@tankerkiller125 thank you for the quick reply. Of course now, I have a lot of questions. I’m sure it looks better in the dark.
Do you know how long they have been in service? Or where I can find out more about them?
Thank you
I noticed where I live that some traffic signals have both incandescent and LED lights leading me to believe they are just retrofitting them as the incandescent lights burn out instead of taking on the enormous task of replacing all at once.
I think that's what usually happens. And that takes a long time since there's no way the incandescents are burning out every year, house ones do that because they're crap, industrial ones can be much better exactly because they're a pain in the ass to replace
@@tsm688 yeah, engineers rarely act stupidly, media coverage or not, noone's getting too assblasted over the type of traffic lights being used. The uploader has produced other good videos, for me this one is a little "unsafe", pun not intended.
@@tsm688 It's not about them being 'crap' or anything. If you put in the same bulbs as the ones in traffic lights into your regular house network, they would burn out somewhat similarly to other bulbs in your house (which depends on your houses wiring, not the bulbs itself).
The reason why bulbs in homes blow so often is because they are being fed more electricity compared to the thickness of the wolfram wire. As it heats up (from electricity passing through it), there is a structural change to it and eventually it just becomes too fragile and breaks under smallest shock or its own weight.
If you went and lowered the power output of your light (for example, running the 100W one at 50W with a dimming controller), then it would last you many years (unless your houses electric system just sucks).
The reason why the wire is so thin is because...it's more efficient as a light. If it was thicker, then you would need more power to have the same brightness of light, and as a result, at some point, you would even have a light bulb that barely gives light but heats like a heater.
Proof of the above? There are light bulbs that have been constantly on for over a 100 years. And I mean it, constantly on. But they give almost no light due to their wolfram wire being thicker and the current reaching them being lower.
In my country it is like this:
There is an order of authority on crossroads and intersections:
- If present, a policeman (or an authorised person, i.e. I was doing that couple of times in the military) regulating traffic has the highest authority, regardless of other signs and signals.
- If a set of traffic lights is present and working in order, than it has authority over everything else except an actual person regulating traffic.
- Every set of traffic lights has also traffic signs on them, that are to be obeyed if the traffic lights are malfunctioning.
- If there are no signs, traffic lights or a person present at an intersection, then a rule of the right hand is observed. That means that a driver has to yield all vehicles that come from his/hers right hand side. Vehicles on rails (street cars) take precedence, and are to be let to pass first.
Police, ambulance, firefighters and official escorted motorcades are another matter altogether, but that is another topic.
On the theoretical part of the drivers exam, the highest number of points carry sketches of the crossroads "to solve," meaning you have to write the exact sequence of the passage of vehicles pictured in them. Basically, if you fail any one of them you fail the exam. Often they depict malfunctioning traffic lights.
Love that he just randomly pulls a red traffic light out of the shelf behind him
Also the several lights he set up, behind the cubbies.
Revealing how tiny he really is
@@zapa1pnt Those are mostly (or all?) the two TVs behind the shelves
Thanks for sharing, Human Person. I am so glad I got to see what you loved about this video.
@@Key_Mind You’re welcome
If we had LED lights first, and then incandescent traffic lights were invented, and they were less efficient, didn't last as long, needed common maintenance, and got dirty and barely visible, you'd have to be crazy to suggest it would be a good idea to use them just because they melt snow.
Patrick Demko awesome point. You should have a ton of likes. Lol
"Engineering explained" used the same logic to demonstrate the superiority of electrical cars over ICE ones.
You obviously haven't been in Norway, especially the Northern part of Norway.
Its not like leds dont produce heat tho? A 3watt led has to be directly mounted to a heatsink.
That depends on where you are. In Canada (other then where I live on the west coast), we get snow and cold for 2-3 months of the year, longer for the more northern parts, and ice and snow build up is a huge problem, not just something you need to worry about a couple of "snow days" a year. In places like Finland, and Russia, it's even worse.
Not saying LEDs are bad, just that there MUST be an engineering solution for cold climates where buildup of ice, snow and frost will be a major problem that would render LED traffic lights completely inoperable for an entire season.
I bought a brand new LED traffic light off eBay directly from a traffic light manufacturer. $300. 12-inch lenses, tunnel visors, and a grey paint job. It's an excellent conversation piece.
An interesting note on old incandescent lights - Many railroads still use old searchlight signals. Rather than a simple array of LED bulbs, a searchlight signal has an incandescent lamp with a reflector behind it and a motor that moves a colored lens in front of it to change the signal color. Each signal head can cost up to $20,000 apiece, and when you have 3 of them on a single aspect, its price racks up quickly. These signals are starting to phase out; 10 years from now you'd be lucky to ever see one.
"But sometimes" - here some twenty or so years ago when seat belts were being made compulsory a disturbingly large number of people were against it because what if a car fell into the sea and one couldn't get out of it because of the seat belt. It would of course be better if a hundred people died in collisions rather than that the one person driving his car into the sea would have some difficulty getting out of his sinking car.
Stop having cars. Solves all
The reverse is the "but sometimes" argument for seatbelts on school buses. On the regular, they serve no real purpose other than landing a school bus driver with hundreds of dollars in fines for students not wearing them, which they can't really control. "But sometimes" school buses crash. Yes, yes that's true. But they rarely do more than jolt the occupants, which would also happen with seatbelts. Getting hit by a train or speeding trash truck is going to be fatal to those struck by the impact... unless they're thrown out of the way. But my favorite illogical argument is when they simulate buses falling into a ditch, where a seatbelt Might have a positive effect. All the crash test dummies die. Except in real life those crashes produce few if any injuries. In reality, seatbelts would just make it very, very hard to get those kids out of the bus. Hanging there for hours while the weather bakes or freezes them would be the real danger.
but sometimes - vaccines
The other argument used to be that it was safer to be thrown out of the car than risk being trapped by the belt. The fact that you'd likely go headlong through the windscreen or be impaled on the steering column didn't seem to weigh in the argument at all!
@@adde9506 Well consider a rollover and how 100 kids would be crashing into each other, and rollovers are how most fatal bus accidents happen. Conclusion? Damned if you do, damned if you don't, so might as well take the more comfortable solution of no belts.
"People are stupid, so accidents happen."
*THIS.*
I had to get through too many comments to see this. This is so true.
I saw it just as he said it lol
It's been proven that traffic lights cause more accidents than intersections without traffic lights.
@@DeimosSaturn holy cow...
@@DeimosSaturn can you point me to this study?
There was a pretty large study done by the State of Massachusetts and they found that intersections with lights are more fatal 9 to 1 than those without. But this was due to the high rate of speed not due to the light itself as intersections with stop or yield signs were 5 to 1 more likely to have an accident than one with a traffic light.
I appreciate this video. I am an engineer and I teach a course on safety management and this kind of thing comes up a lot.
When incident I remember from my own experience was when I was at another university waiting at an intersection for the “don’t walk“ red light to turn off. (There was no “walk“ light). When the light turned off I started across and I heard a loud honk so I backed up and the driver was pointing up at the light. So I walked over to where I could see his signal and saw that it was green. Wonderful!
As soon as I got to my office I called up the traffic department and reported the situation. To my surprise they said oh we know all about that. They also said that they’ve known about it for years and they don’t plan on fixing it. The reason they gave was it would cost $20,000 to address the issue at that intersection and loss prevention calculated that their legal exposure in the event of an accident would be less. I suggested that they reevaluate their estimated loss because the fact that they know about this and didn’t address it would expose them to a higher liability.
I left that university two years later and the intersection was still not working right.😑
THIS ⬆️ made me sooo ANGRY‼️ 😠
The SOB who told you that also told you what human life is worth to him and the University! 😠
I want it FIXED.
Suing is expensive...
Could you report a violation?
To OSHA, the Dept of Transportation, local TV stations, all of the above?
This is the first time I've seen the folded up stop sign
Same, but it doesn't snow where I live so I suspect that's why.
Yeah, i'm from germany and there are just priorities of lights over signs so the signs just stay up.
@@ACDBunnie I live in a cold climate and we get snow. We do not have stop signs at stop light intersections. Just batteries and if those fail cops directing traffic.
Timestamp?
@@perlsackhd3957 eruope, where theres a stop sign and a go light at the same time
Sunday morning in Germany watching a video from a enthusiastic guy in IL about traffic lights and finding it fascinating. Got to love youtube.
It truly is a wonderful thing, when creators aren't screwed over
So muss das sein! :D
Same but on friday
Nur dass die Ampeln in DE alle Müll sind
@@purpleezah5382 OP's comment is in english, you know.
I saw the snow build-up on LED traffic lights in Chicago. I was a police officer and going to work when I nearly got hit by southbound traffic on a major Avenue. A South wind blew snow, covering all traffic lights. When I arrived at work I informed the Supervisors about hazard. By the time I got in my squad car there was already two accidents on the avenue's intersections. We had to place a squad car at every intersection for several blocks(miles). It was quite a mess.
Correction, it was a northern wind (north to south) covering all southbound LED traffic lights. It didn't take much wind for the snow to build-up on the LED lights.
Kinda messed up that people doesnt understand that there are rules if something like that is happening. I never could imagine ignoring a traffic light, if I cant see it.
@@lollolgameslp people in Chicago don’t seem particularly bright, especially ones the police deal with lol. They don’t seem aware of “rules” even when nothing bad is going on
@@lollolgameslp I think the snow would be tricky. The rule is that the intersection turns into a 4-way stop but how would that would work if only one light is covered with snow (which would always be the case becuase the wind only blows one direction). You follow "the rule" and stop and then rightfully take your right of way but get hit by someone else who rightfully is taking their green light.
I agree with you. My only problem with them is that the newer high visibility LED lights work too well. I really wish they would use LED's that don't blind me and destroy my night vision. That's a serious oversight. Seriously though, after one of these vehicles passes by me, it takes a while for the image of bright dots burned into my retinas to fade away. I've been blinded off the road and into a ditch a couple of months ago and nearly ran off the road on a few other occasions.
Low tech fix here... Don't stare at the light, learn object permanence, most toddlers have that down pat by like three years old.
He isn't even talking about vehicle lighting why are you bringing this up?
@@kevinfreeman3098 ah yes closing your eyes while driving is a great idea
shoutouts to unnecessary douchery in RUclips comment replies
@@tired9494 so when you walk around outside, do you constantly stare at the sun whenever your eyes are open?
Dude, I don't mean this in a bad way, you remind me of the educators on PBS when I was growing up in the 70's and early 80's
TBH i think thats the best possible compliment you can give a educational channel
And?????
That's a bad thing?
@@RichardJohnson-cg2ix he said not in a bad way bro lmao
Anne Frank Zappa? lol
The brown suit jacket is definitely adding to the visual
Lived in Alaska for 34 years, never saw traffic light light covered with snow/ice, have seen snow high enough to cover stop signs.
I live in Colorado. "Sometimes" the wind will blow snow and cover the lights. Usually it only affects one direction (i.e. the direction the wind is blowing). Rare occurrance, but it does happen.
As an Alaskan, I can tell from personal experience this was an issue far more often than “sometimes.” The first winter after the municipality began switching to LED signals without accounting for snow buildup was also one of the worst in the last couple of decades. While the average taxpayer was excited about the energy savings, they were equally shocked that no one in the local government, the company contracted to help facilitate the switchover from old to new nor the manufacturer providing the new requirement involved stopped for a moment to think about this very issue at any point during the planning or rollout stages. After a sobering increase in vehicular accidents occurring at or near signaled intersections, people were floored when the city manager in charge of the program unashamedly admitted the issue never occurred to him.
The danger here, and the real issue at hand, is not new technology but a failure to account for how that new technology will function differently than that which it is replacing, both for better AND worse. Far too often this level headed way of thinking is abandoned in the rush to adopt new technologies that on the face are cheaper, more efficient and “earth friendly.” In my example and personal experience, we weren’t shaking our fist in anger at the almighty LED, rather shaking our heads at how once again the people who are both expected and paid to know better once again failed miserably to do just that. And if you’re being honest, THAT is what those articles you mentioned were aimed at, not LED’s.
Regarding the green arrow for right turns appearing immediately at the start of the yellow phase: that's appropriate... sometimes. 🙂
If opposing traffic has a permissive left turn signal (e.g. solid green or flashing yellow arrow), there may be cars in the intersection that need to clear it when the light turns yellow. It would not be appropriate to give drivers a protected right turn in that scenario, because it introduces a "yellow trap" scenario in which the left-turning driver is expecting all opposing traffic to get a red signal, and that they can thus clear the intersection as the light turns red. By giving the opposing right turn a green arrow, you're allowing that traffic to conflict with the vehicles trying to clear the intersection, thus introducing the risk of a collision. In that scenario, it's appropriate to have the light turn red for the right-turn lane before giving that traffic a green arrow.
If the opposing traffic has a protected left turn, there should be no problem illuminating the green right turn arrow as through traffic gets the yellow, since the opposite-direction left turners should have a red arrow at that time.
I would also be curious to know how many times "but sometimes" a burned-out incandescent light was the cause of a traffic accident, too. I would bet you there are many many more injuries and fatalities associated with that than with iced-over LEDs, but nobody talks about that side of the equation either.
This is wrong idea. If the incandescent light burns out, it stops taking the current and the control unit can switch the crossing to "Danger" etc. I would bet the LED can be damaged easier and with less control over it.
@@jirizlamal69
Consider watching the video at some point
@@jirizlamal69 I think you're assuming a lot. I've seen quite a few traffic lights with burnt out bulbs, and in my experience the control circuitry in most of them is actually not sophisticated enough to do that. They will typically switch to "failure" mode only if the whole thing loses power completely (i.e. a blackout), but not if only a single bulb burns out. (Also, the typical "failure" mode (at least in the US) is to just flash all the red lights on and off, but if it's the red bulb that's burnt out (which would be the most likely to cause accidents), then that doesn't really solve the issue anyway, IMHO.)
I'm also not sure why you think that LEDs can be damaged more easily. Modern LED assemblies are more robust than incandescent lights in most ways, and generally far more reliable (which you should really know if you actually watched the video, or, you know, ever actually tried using any LED lights yourself).
@@jirizlamal69 As demonstrated in 15:22, LED lights fail gradually. An inoperative diode doesn't result to complete light failure as incandescent bulbs do. Plus, a lot of LEDs are designed as a retrofit as shown in 2:43, so replacement procedures do not change at all.
In the first place, as explained in 3:13, LEDs have much greater lifespan than their replacements.
@Jiří Zlámal I feel as though you opened the video, paused it about a second in, and then commented so you could share a misinformed opinion without being bothered by the idea that you might not know best. I advise having a wonderful day as you call your therapist and work through whatever causes you to think this way. 🤗🥰💖
"Really bad snowstorms can block the lights!"
Yeah but imagine that same snow storm knocks out the power (which it could totally do if it's THAT bad) and now the LED lights are the only ones that still have power because of the battery backups.
unless the snowstorm blocked the lights?
snow doesn't directly take out power.
Indirectly it can happen, rare but it does. Snow can clump together and get really heavy. Then tree branches fall, wires get hit, then power goes out. Recent winter, i took a picture of a skinny wire, like 1mm thick, that got like 12mm of ice formed on it.
I'm high as shit and what's your point
If the power lines are collapsing and there's that much snow falling, it's unlikely that there will be much traffic.
@@cryptfire3158 Ice storms are what you have to worry about.
Here in Germany every traffic light has backup signs if the lights are out. Normally 2 sides have a dedicated „Vorfahrtsstraße” sign that would mean you can blast right trough while the other 2 sides have a give way sign. Would be really dangerous if only the side with the give way sign fails.
In America if a power loss happens, all four way intersections are four way stops.
ya i agree with the video but I think he missed on a couple points. The reason the ice would be dangerous is one side would be covered and the other's wouldn't. When there's a power failure it's easy to tell and everyone stops but if only one direction was covered in ice and they stopped and then took their right of way (as is the traffic rule) they could get smoked by someone on the other side who has a green light that is not covered. That and "just don't drive if it's a blizzard" would be great if cities would close their roads but your employers and kids schools still expect them to be there.
@@new0news that’s right. Also just noticed I mixed up the sides in my original comment
the perfect is the enemy of the good... also known as "but sometimes"... where the one flaw seems to rule out any good that a change can do... and then you get lovely thought ending clichés like "better the devil you know" or "can't teach an old dog new tricks".
It is indeed a nice jacket
Useless Duck Company Ph.D jackets.
Only when its snowing, dingus!
I personally love the shirt worn by Mr "modernize NOW" even better. Railing on about how we need to get all modern & save the planet with these wondrous LED signals, while his shirt extols the virtues of a mid/Late 80's 4 door most likely *CARBURETED* Import (86 Tercel, I'm thinking). FWIW, I love those 80s Toyotas. Got an 86 Tercel 3 door hatch of my own, wouldn't trade her for all the gold in the world. But I don't run around pushing against obsolete tech while simultaneously promoting it.
My previous scool required to wear very similar ones
I think you should go to it a bit longer. I had no problems with jacket. It was very convenient too, because there were lots of pockets. We also had last day of the month, when we could go without official uniform. I only sometimes used that privilege.
I saw a lot of Lombard in this video! Greetings also from NE Illinois! your channel is awesome! I learn so much about stuff I never knew I would want to, but now I know.
I find the incandescent fade is helpful in spotting that a light has changed. As the LED is an instant switch, all be it between two slightly different positions is it just my eyes that don't always spot this change. In the UK of course we have red amber rather than just red to green which is when it is most difficult to spot.
"People are stupid, so accidents happen"
My new favorite quote.
There is no such thing as an accident. Accident implies no one is at fault.
@@iamtheoffenderofall Please tell me you are referring to Hot Fuzz
Reminds me of the sign THIS SITE HAS BEEN ACCIDENT FREE SINCE: [handwriting] Joe left.
I need that on t-shirt ^^
I knew a guy that would use the following as part of his argument against wearing seat belts:
"There have been people that have worn their seat belts, and crashed into a canal and drowned, because they couldn't unbuckle their seat belt."
That person never heard the argument, when the car is going 50mph, so are YOU. If you hit a brick wall, the car stops. If you aren't wearing a seat belt, you don't stop.
@@gearsofwar3xXx
He never will hear that argument.
He was a smoker, and he died a few years ago from lung cancer.
@@shawbros So he reasoned that he would not be one of the 50%+ of smokers who will die because of their addiction? Sounds about right.
@@RWBHere
I don't think he was thinking that.
I think he just liked smoking, and didn't take the potential consequences seriously.
He was a hard headed person.
I bet he lived in Arizona too.
In my PLC class I got to design a stoplight program simulating these induction sensors under one of the cross roads on our town's main street. Ever since then I've been so interested in stuff like this, great video!
The argument of “But sometimes…” is GENIUS!! You’re incredibly smart and heavily entertained me. Kudos!!
As a Civil Engineering professional I find this video fascinating, great job.
Good luck on the job, it sounds really hard to a non-engineer. ( Even when I was going for engineering it was a totally different kind of engineering. Civil just sounds like a PITA because of all this kind of stuff. )
Australia has nice signs for that:
"Stop if signals blacked out or flashing"
The sign is typically a simply STOP sign with 3 black dots to represent the blacked out traffic lights.
Never seen that. Usually it's just chaos as no one knows who has priority.
@@Cheepchipsable No. The give-way-to-the right rule kicks in.
@@alanbeagley5529 or if your car is bigger.
Never seen those signs here, it's just a standard uncontrolled intersection
My country we have regular stop sign below
This Video is just great. You are doing an awesome job, keep doing this!
There was a situation near my work that was similar to the "protected left/right turn" scenario described and people kept getting into accidents because the protected left people would take U-turns while the right-turners also had a green light.
I worked in signalization for years. I promise you you would be shocked at how big a traffic light is up close.
The main thing I miss about the old school signals is that you could use the lenses like a giant magnifying glass. We would focus sunlight and burn our names into pieces of wood while we waited for concrete trucks and what not.
Where I live in Germany, many traffic lights are on the side of the road, not above it, and when you walk around you know how big they are, and I wouldn't call that size "big"
But I don't know what traffic lights in the US look like, so duh
i have been to a tgi fridays in the 90s. i learned how big they are from there 🤣
I watched some work done on a light near me, and the damn thing was as big as one of the workers if memory serves.
@@jan-lukas in the US a three-light traffic signal is a 3 and a half feet, or for the rest of the world, around 1.06 meters tall.
When the complaint is very minor and incredibly niche you know the thing being complained about is just better than what it's replacing
I really like this channel. Long ass videos about obscure subjects with what's clearly a very brilliant guy.
Great researcher, amazing delivery and well structured.
I still remember when the first cars came about. Much faster than oxcarts, more convenient and comfy than an oxcart, also needed fewer oxen than an oxcart. Then the first winters and heavy rains came, slippery roads, and it turned out, accidents at those speeds were almost unsurvivable. Everybody just went back to oxcarts.
The loops in the road don't always work for all types of vehicles...my motorbike wouldn't trip one in CA on time, so I had to do the whole 'broken stop light' thing, and proceed with (a lot of) caution.
We always added a magnet to the bottom of the bike, like an old speaker magnet to resolve that issue.
@@spdergod The next microwave that craps out is donating it's magnets to my bikes. I'm so sick of waiting at a light until a car comes along to trip it.
You can get an aftermarket plate or magnet for under your bike that fixes that. Here in Ohio/KY area it is the same problem. That fixed it for my Pacific Coast & ST1300.
I was able to even trigger the loop on my bicycle by passing across the loop at the edge. Due to the 2 wires crossing at the same time, it is more sensitive there 🙂
@@marwerno it's usually the motorcycle not being positioned properly in the loop. MC riders are not always the brightest
"People are stupid". When it comes to drivers these days that is an understatement lol
That's the world in general. People are just stupid period
Chad W4CHD Suggs yea you'd think with all the access to information we have and such people would get smarter! Doesn't seem the case though lol
I love how everyone thinks everyone BUT them is stupid. We’re all stupid
In todays world, the exception swallows the whole.
well, he's expecting them to know A. traffic lights that are out are like 4 way stops, but no one knows how to do those either.
I’ve never heard him sound so aggressive. It feels like he’s saying “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed”
This video is my stress reliever. Thank you so much.
I've never noticed a white flashing light for emergency vehicles. I do live in California, in a little town called Redding. That probably has a lot to do with it. Not that "I" would need one. I am always very in tune with what a siren sounds like even with my music at a decent level. The second I hear a siren (and I usually hear them before I see the vehicle), my music goes down to 0 volume, and my windows go down so I can begin investigating where the emergency vehicle is coming from, and where it's headed so I can plan my path of escape.
I live in a smaller town outside of austin texas. In austin, houston, san marcos, and even in my towns nearby bigger cities, we dont have those either. Thats something new to me
Chicagoland area has had them for 40 years. Just about every new stop light gets them. The white flashing light isn’t for the driving public, it lets the driver of the emergency vehicle know they have captured the light and it will turn green in their favor. Cross traffic gets a solid white light so you know another emergency vehicle has captured the stop light in a different direction.
in EU we just put mobile devices into emergency vehicles, but also into public transport vehicles so also public transport gets preference on intersections
Wait until you find out about deaf people
@@shizbisquit wait until you find out about license restrictions
I've had a very rough day mentally today, this video full of wisdom was just what i needed to see
9:25 "a snowstorm severe enough to cause buildup on the traffic lights"... should be reason enough to just drive slower and more careful anyways.
But this is what happens when self-aware apes handle 1.5t death machines for transport.
What about in the days after the storm? It may take days for the snow to melt, or weeks if it's a really bad ice storm ( though then you probably won't have power for weeks or months then )
In my area they use the same heaters use for melting snow off roofs to melt the snow on the LEDs.
You described every other day in Alaska.
@@mfk12340 if the weather conditions are potentially hazardous, you adapt to them. regardless of whether it's during a snow storm or after it, if there's still ice/snow everywhere, you're going to drive slower and more carefully. this would also significantly boost your chances of not getting into a wreck if the lights are out/covered up.
of course, in practice, not everyone uses their brain, and they're going to speed around on icy roads. at that point though, it's questionable if a traffic light is all that useful at stopping them.
@@vukpsodorov5446 it's also about bringing the right tool to the job and your car/truck is exactly that... a tool. If it's not properly equipped with AWD/4X4 or a locking differential and/or snow tires, you shouldn't be out on the road in the first place. My truck is capable of going through at least 6 inches of snow at 50 mph SAFELY because it has the proper equipment installed, now I almost never do that because my own personal driving rule is if I don't feel safe driving at 40 mph I ain't driving unless it's an emergency.
@@mfk12340 imagining it was a solid blizzard and the light was covered. Treat it like a stop sign. Like your supposed to.
When working on traffic light control systems a decade or so ago, another advantage of LED was the lower voltage posing less of a threat to life in the event of an impact with the unit since it didn't expose potentially lethal mains voltage.
It's not the voltage that kills...
@@MrKelra unlike boring and mindless comments.
@@MrKelra but if I stick a fork in my outlet (here in Aus 240v 10a) I die, but if I lick some jumper leads connected to a car battery, let's say 13.8v and 800a, I don't feel it. Technically it is the current that kills you, but you need the high voltage for the current to flow through your body which is very high resistance.
@@enbee_ash6740 Sadly, some people are just incapable of understanding the implications of Ohm's law and the melting point of conductors :)
@@mpmansell she'll be right. We'll just shock them with 240kv at 0.5A and say hey it's low current you'll be fine 😂
Regarding the right turn arrow: Not sure if someone else mentioned this (12,353 comments here as of now), but here's my guess. Say you're going north and want to turn right. If there's a car in the southbound lane waiting to make a left to go east, he's going to sit there until the northbound traffic clears and he can make a left. If you're turning right, he'll wait for you to finish your turn before he makes his. But if while he's waiting his light turns red, he's going to need to make his turn to clear the intersection for the next cycle. You, waiting to turn right, will yield to him now that your light is red and you have no green arrow. But if you get a right arrow immediately as the main signal turns yellow, it's telling you that you have the right of way to make your right turn, in which case you're not going to yield to him: Either he will assume you are yielding and there will be a crash, or, especially if there are other cars behind you also wanting to turn right, he's going to be stuck in the intersection with nowhere to go. So I think it's all to let any oncoming left-turners clear the intersection before the light moves to the next cycle. Now if it's set up this way where opposing traffic can't turn left, well, then you might be onto something.
That makes sense. I had a related situation happen while driving in California. I was waiting in the intersection to turn left and somehow, my light turned red but pedestrians started crossing where I wanted to go and I couldn't clear the intersection for a few more seconds. It left me wondering how the engineers managed to screw that up so bad or if California laws didn't allow pulling into the intersection without a protected arrow like in most states. Little differences like that can make driving in other states confusing at times.
The southbound car shouldn’t be IN the intersection.
After being turned down by our city to help their maintenance department prolong the LED's in the tail section of our city busses, which go out routinely due to the hours applied to their usage, we surmised that they were too afraid of our resistor modules that could otherwise have saved the city considerable money. Their basis was that interfering with the design may cause other issues with DOT requirements. Even though we assured them that my resistor designs can be verified to not only keep the LED fixtures outputting above the minimum required light intensity level, but that they also conform to wiring standards against corrosion and water intrusion. That didn't matter to them since bureaucrats are not interested in saving tax dollars since they must spend their budgets yearly, otherwise they lose that amount of funding for the next year. Wow. If only more taxpayers knew about all this nonsense...
>Some still have the written text "WALK" and "DON'T WALK" in their pedestrian signals
>a few use the old 8 inch lenses for their green and yellow lights
Wow, sounds like where I live!
I just want you to know that I've started using this video to educate people in the process of user testing, user experience design, and product innovation. "But Sometimes" is one of the biggest recurring frustrations in my field.
I've noticed restaurant drive-through's have difficulty detecting bicycles and sometimes your left there waiting without being told "welcome you can place your order now". This even happens with a busy line wrapped around the building, where you'd think the clerk would assume another customer always files in behind? Some drive-through's have a cc camera, but this only helps if there actually monitoring. This requires one to leave the bicycle at the menu sign, confusing/annoying people behind you, walk to the window to explain your waiting and then walk back! Covid made this situation worse as most dine in areas were closed with drive-through being the only option. I guess the same would apply to people on foot? Also, your videos are always very informative and well researched! Thanks!
“But people are stupid”. And you’ve summed up nearly every problem.
"Do you take an umbrella to school?"
"No"
"What if it rained"
"I might wear a hood, it works and it's less expensive"
"What if you DIED"
so true
there was an umbrella in my backpack. I paid too much for those damn textbooks
@jocaguz18 If you already own something with a hood, like pretty much everyone does
@@SchwartzSchnee I've had an umbrella in my backpack for the last 15 years. I think I've used it twice. I just tend to dress well for the weather. Still, the peace of mind has been worth it.
Also wear a belt and braces, in case your pants fall down
When I was a boy the gates at railroad crossings has red kerosene lanterns on them. A man was employed who raised and lowered them when a train was coming. There were also tiny little shelters that the men could escape from the snow, rain, cold...
Illinois is so cheap they won't build a pedestrian crossing bridge for our MidAmerican workers. They have a cross walking guy that just jumps into the road and wails a strobing baton like a light saber.
@@SirCavemaninthewest Bet that guy has a fat gov union pension too.
So quaint!
@@SirCavemaninthewest I must see this LMAO
Run the red
Here in Pennsylvania, the placement of the traffic lights are the problem. They put 2, approximately 6 ft apart, on an overhead horizontal pole. If you are behind a bus or box truck, you can’t see either of them until it’s too late. Sometimes the setting sun is right between them and you can’t see them. One should be on the opposite corner also. Also in Philly, with the stop light cameras, they shorten the yellow, so they get more tickets. It’s impossible to safely stop in a truck. Some lights are aimed so badly that when you see what light is on, you’re already in the center of the intersection.
The placement is also a BIG problem in Ohio. Not being able to see stoplights because I'm behind a semi has become one of my biggest pet peeves alongside countryside intersections where you can't even see anything on one side because it's either a downhill slope or blocked by a bush or building. I think intersections like those warrant a traffic light or at LEAST a four way stop rather than a stop sign on one part of the intersection.
There is an easy work around. it's called a roundabout.
06:30 You literally took the words right out of my mouth... I'm so glad you said it!
*Cure for cancer appears
Idiots: But Sometimes
*Cure taken off market
that's how it is for vaccines already.
"Vaccines save lives!"
"But sometimes..."
ANTI VAXX!
@@bootlegscarce0844 vaccines aren't flawless. Some may be dangerous for a small number of people. But one's doctor can generally tell you if you aren't a candidate, and as you said, the autism thing is totally bogus.
Hey my mom didn't vaccinate me yes I may have polio but at least I don't have autism y'all are dumb😷😷😷😷🤒🤒🤒🤮🤮🤮🤮🤧🤧🤧🤧. 😂
Look up thalidomide for cancer treatment
Nasty stuff!@@bradandmawm3630
06:20
Here in Germany on every intersection each traffic light has a traffic sign mounted on its pole. In case the lights fail the right of way is still regulated. But it would not be Germany If there was a backup without a backup. If there are no traffic signs the rule 'right has right of way' applies. Exceptions to this rule are traffic regulation by the Police even when the traffic lights work.
So it's
Police > Traffic Lights > Traffic Signs > Right has Way of right
That’s True but if not all traffic lights fail at ones (due to snow coming from just one direction) this can still case an accident. If the person with the Give Way sign has a green light and the person on the road with the right of way signs red light is cowered with snow or not working anyway both drivers think they can cross the other road now and might end up crashing
but it's germany, we really don't have that kind of blizzard here...this is again a very "but sometimes" problem and if there ever is that much snow, you propably have to drive so slowly, you can avoid most accidents
I love the way that Germans overthink everything.
@@ahobimo732 Not everything, mate. My BMW Z4 was caught with the top down in a quick rainstorm. Not a crazy amount of rain, but enough to get the dashboard wet. However, enough to compromise a large amount of the electronics, and yield a nice big repair bill. Apparently, the German engineers didn't think that perhaps a convertible might sometimes get caught in the rain? Ultimate driving machine, my ass.
@@mayorsnorkum4005 Sorry about your car. I have no experience with BMWs but I've heard that repairs and maintenance can be ridiculousoly expensive. There are a lot of considerations that go into engineering a consumer product, and making things more complex doesn't always make them better. It seems like in the case of your car, they overlooked a problem that should have been both obvious and easy to solve.
But my statement was more a comment about the overall nature of German culture. There are bound to be exceptions.
It's so incredibly lucky I found you. Good luck!
Your sarcasm is really witty and cool Brother. The world needs more "geeks" like you. I just subscribed to your channel today, but as a retired electrical engineer I enjoy it emencely. Cheers!
Sometimes led lights get covered in snow but all the time the incandescent light burn out and also don’t show the proper signal
"but sometimes they don't"
8:51
"The other 300 days when it doesn't snow"
You mean you only see 65 days of snow annually?
_confused in Canadian_
Right! Also frost is an issue as well. Not just snow.
@@nocturnal0072 Would the heater not fix that too?
@@Richard-jm3um It might not be enough in cold climate situations, like Russia, Alaska and Canada. Yes, this is very situational.
@@nocturnal0072 Yeah, well I'm still with the guy from the video, It's a problem worth looking into and trying to fix for when it happens, specially if it happens most of the time, that of course would mean that it would no longer be a "But sometimes" but a "But most of the time".
@@Richard-jm3um I like new tech, but sometimes changing for the sake of new is pointless.
For example all the interior lights in my car are LED, all the exterior lights are still bulbs. Different scenario but LED lights are useful and reliable.
Good video! One must remember what the different colors mean. Green = GO, Yellow = GO Faster, Red = You Didn't Go Fast Enough.
On my travels around the world the best "new" thing on traffic lights I saw in Bruxelles, Belgium: Crosslights. These are lights on back on the normal trafficlights that are shaped like plus sign. They show what the light shows on the other side so that across a complicated crossing one can see what lights other drivers have. This clearly facilitated much safer and faster crossings.
Oh damn, TC getting brutal. There's something great about such a mild-mannered, softspoken man bluntly saying "people are stupid".
For stories like this my dad and I have a saying.
"But that would make sense."
Yeah that's one I use too
Hey me too😂
Not dollars just sense...
Yes 😂 "Aw but that makes sense"
My personal favorite is "that is what smart people would do".
Interesting video. I replaced the headlights in my car with lights that use LEDs and learned about the difference in heat emission during the first significant snow fall.
Your speech on progress was eloquent, and so applicable to humanity, timelessly. If only we could work together, we could move on to the next step of civilization.
another wonderful, modern example of "But Sometimes!" thinking is Electric motor driven vehicles. "but pedestrians cant hear them coming!"
And the potential solution to that is really cool too: choose your own exhaust sound.
@@PongoXBongo Or you can drive slower where pedestrians cross. Or looking both ways before crossing.
@@carlangelo653 Of course, but that doesn't absolve pedestrians from their responsibilities. We all share the road and all need to look out for each other.
@@PongoXBongo Yep, I mean in general pedestrians and drivers should just be more aware of what's around them on the road. Makes it safer for everyone.
PongoXBongo i want to get a recording of a harley davidson and play it really loud while driving, that way i can drive a gay electric car without looking gay
Came for my favourite "guy who talks about lame things with a burning passion rarely seen in today's world" talk about LED traffic lights...
Got a motivational speech about solving problems.
Thanks 👍😊
Even though I'm not from USA, I'm familiar with a bit of USA traffic rules from GTA San Andreas. I don't remember following those rules and ended up smashing other cars, bicycles and people. But it's nice to know more about those traffic lights now! I don't remember an ambulance signalling traffic lights to clear up its way though...
@@BeyondRepair767 every single time I tried to drive back to the grove from Cesar’s low rider shop
@@BeyondRepair767 Even in real life, once there is a law stating it is pedestrians first no matter what, many pedestrians takes advantage by scamming drivers because they know only the drivers get in trouble. In real life, when the law enables pedestrians to scam, they act like real life is GTA.
Your just to logical and practical! Ohhh..... and have WAYYYYYY TTTTOOOO much COMMIN SENSE! Love your stuff! J.
You know a YT channel is good when it's got you watching a video about f***ing traffic lights.
In Germany, every traffic light on a crossing has a road sign always visible to indicate the right of way if the traffic light is out. We also have a much more in depth and harder procedure to get a drivers license so that you really know what to do in every situation.
Not EVERY intersection tho… if the traffic light fails or is turned off and no signs are there the rule „rechts vor links“, in english „right before left“ has to be used.
@@Phili406 Es ist echt selten dass man Ampeln ohne Verkehrsschilder sieht, selbst in den ländlichsten Gegenden habe ich keine Ampel ohne Verkehrsschild gesehen.
Only downside being I have to pay 2k for my driver's license.
@@archkull That's true unfortunately. But at least we can get some excellent raining for it.
If we raised the difficulty level to that of Germany or Japan 3/4 of the US populace wouldn’t be able to drive. IMO that would be a good thing. 30k a year die in traffic, and that doesn’t even touch the number of lives permanently harmed from injury.
Traffic circles require even less energy and also when ice coats them there is the problem of momentum which may cause traffic to exit prematurely . The problems are interesting because they may not be requirements in the original design, only partially convenient side effects. Change is hard because people need to learn new nuances which may frustrate them.
Incandescent traffic lights usually melt snow, BUT SOMETIMES, when they're BURNED OUT, THEY FAIL TO MELT THE SNOW! :)
"...but people are stupid, so accidents happen. " love that line. So true.
but but FOUR WHEEL DRIVE MAKES ME INVINCIBLE!
Wait, what are you saying, it doesn't? Lies! LIIEES!
The average person is an idiot and 50% of the population is of below-average intelligence.
Snow on the traffic lights doesn't leave drivers confused. Not knowing how to drive is what did it.
I've never once seen a folding stop sign at an intersection...that's so neat
TC: “People are stupid”
Me: I am a nurse... you have no idea how correct you are.
And people who read your comment have no idea of the depth of it. Stupid runs deep but their personalities are shallow mud puddles they copied from pop culture. They can change for the better but they let stereotypes, victimhood mentality, and peer pressure keep them from becoming who they could have been.
People are indeed stupid. It's good to recognize that. I've never found it helpful to roll my eyes at all those other stupid people when I have limitations myself. It's far better to recognize our own limitations before we point out the limitations of others.
I couldn't imagine all nurses are stupid but.
Why should beeing a nurse be stupid?
true, i am a complete moron
"Only when it's snowing, ya DINGUS!" Got me good!
great video as always from this channel
The jacket has totally become a trademark! Love your videos.
I was the traffic control/emergency response route expert in my county, covering 6,000 streets or proposed streets. One of my many duties in the fire department. I took an uncertified traffic control engineer course to better learn my job. This is a good course. A+!!
Perhaps you can explain why these 'experts' have LONG red for the roads with heavy traffic & the empty flow road with the long green? COMMON sense! Not 'training' classes.