Tuesday 6 December 2011

... if the traffic light system is standardized

Yes, wouldn't it be nice if the traffic light system is standardized throughout Malaysia?
As drivers,  we might have "come by" several types of traffic light system in this country. The one that we most familiar with is "green light turning to yellow, and then to red". No fuss, no thrill. You "happily" drive through the road junction.

The next variation always give me a little jolt in my stomach. As usual the green light turns to yellow and then to red. But before it turns to yellow, the green light will blink a few seconds before finally turning to yellow. When the green light start blinking, my heart will start pounding hard and my andrenaline level jump up. Should I slow down and ready to stop or put on the accelerator harder before it turns yellow? But being a cautious driver, most of the time I would make an effort to slow down my vehicle if I am still quite a distance from the junction and get ready to stop.  

Why must the green light blinks? Why can't the drivers drive through the green light without any distractions? How about it is the yellow light that blinks? It might serve as a warning to the drivers that the traffic light is turning to red very soon  and they should get their vehicles ready to stop at the red light.

Another variation is also heart pounding. As usual the green light turns to yellow and then to red. But this variation is more on the timing of each light, well, yellow light in particular. My main concern is when the yellow light turns to red. It seems that the timing (in seconds) for yellow light is too short. There is no blinking of the traffic light. But it seems that the traffic light will quickly turn to red from yellow. It might only be my feeling, I might be wrong. Sometimes the light will turn red even though I am still in the middle of the junction. Ugh.. quite a scary experience.

However, I appreciate "intelligent traffic light". The timing of green and red lights are varied to reflect the traffic volume. This is the kind of variation that if possible, be applied to all busy junctions. But please, let the timing of yellow light is the same throughout the country.

Yes, I wish we have a standard traffic light system throughout our country.

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