Dec 1 2009What Took So Long?: A Countdown Stop Light

STOP! My first first!

The ultimate drag race aid.

Makes it too easy.

I wish I wasn't first :( But I am so. This idea RULES!

@2, crap, i was going to say that. MLIG

Also, neutral wastes no fuel in modern cars.

they already have stop lights that count down in holland, there all over amsterdam, its just a small timer under the lights that counts down in clicks from 30 secs,

hahaha already been done

@3 BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FAIL!

Preventing me from have a friend take off with my mouth on my beer, and throwing that beer all on my face. Now I can smell nice before the party, which will still end with me puking and desperately picking up the possibly attractive chick no one else wants to talk to.

Actually it's not a bad idea. Seeing a timer might make people less impatient.

FIRST!

Seriously? Nobody here has ever figured out that the pedestrian light is a countdown to when the your light turns green?

@1 & 10
http://de.acidcow.com/pics/20091130/gif_04.gif
MLIG

@11

Y'know, I'm 20 and have been driving since I was 16, and only figured that out on my own last month. -_- So simple.

Much better for drag races!!! Now we can stop running over the flag girl.

I was always under the impression that It takes more fuel to start most modern cars than to let it Idle for 5 minutes???

lol ! in romania we've been having countdowns under the stop lights for years! not this design but still countdowns

@11 & 13

i just watch the perpendicular light... when it turns yellow, i ready when it turns red i know mine will green

took my best freind a good while to figure out what i was doing, he just assumed i mentally counted or something,

he asked if i "just know the lengths of all the lights" or "what if they change the timer"... i told him "then itll take longer"

also i dont see this as a drag racing issue, as far back as i can recall NYC cab drivers have been dragging the lights for years and i dont predict this will make that any more/less effective

Ya, this isn't going to happen. For one, turning your engine off for 30 seconds then restarting it doesn't save gas. Starting your car takes a good deal of fuel (thinking of what the exhaust from a big semi looks like when it starts its engine). Also, like the GW said, imagine all the accidents that would happen from people treating the light like a drag race.

GW has it right. It's an obvious idea but hasn't been implemented for various reasons.

it will also cause people to speed up to "beat" a light, but at least they'll be doing it informed. still, i rather know how long I really have, than sit there wondering. especially at those stoplights that just seem stuck forever, where' you're there for 10+ minutes and you finally say F it..

@17 your friend isn't a moron, by any chance?

Also the drag racing thing was a joke.

Let's face it, it's just something cool to look at while we wait to move on.

They have those little timers in Turkey, too.

It didnt really took that long... There are already thousands of those traffic lights all over Brazil, I believe the first one I saw in my city was 5 years ago... There are some with timers on the side, and some with 6 lights of each color, which start to turn off top to bottom until it changes color.

http://www.vinhedo.sp.gov.br/painel/dbarquivos/dbimagens/novosemafaro03.jpg

"Shut down there engines to conserve energy" How stupid are these people? To start up an engine costs significantly more energy than leaving it idol for long periods of time. It will end up costing more in gas.

@20

yes...yes he is

And im sure there and official "no prize" for the king of the cabbie drag racers... i just know it... i understand the secrecy (cabbie oath or some junk)

I totally appreciate you not telling me only to have to silence me after.

@ 23 - That was true in the late 80's... not so much anymore.

I don't see why they wouldn't put the timer on the yellow and green lights as well. That way people wouldn't try to rush to beat the light if they knew they had no chance.

got the countdown lights in canada..cept they countdown with numbers. and still the old people can never make it across the street in time. I guess they can't read the numbers behind their cataracts.

Or if you're in a city you can watch the countdown on the pedestrian walks.

Finish a sandwich, make a phone call, catch a nap and still 5 seconds to spare.

In Salt Lake City we have countdowns for our crosswalks, which gives me enough time to rev up my Segway.

Its already been done in so many countries. India has seconds count down timer and over there almost everyone ends up switching off their engines at the light to save on fuel, since its generally expensive.

that's why india has no fun cars such as the E'mo

people arent responsible enough for that, they will see its coming, and that last person turning or speeding up a bit will be hit more often than not by the person only focusing on when they get the green.

Um, GW didn't say anything about drag races. Revving engines and knocking over pedestrians isn't my idea of a drag races. Maybe things's different where you folks came from.

Where we come from, we don't have any form of count-down. We just go when it's green. Well, amber. Okay, when it's been red for more than 20 seconds. Well, when there's a gap. Or, if we've fitted rubber skirts around the outside, at any time we like. Sometimes if we haven't. Basically I've got no arms. I'm writing with my eyes.

@11, not all traffic lights have accompanying pedestrian lights though

@17, that's basically the same as waiting for your red light though as you still don't know exactly when the light is going to change

Honestly I don't have an idea of a drag races.

@ 15, 18, & 23

The common misconception that it takes more fuel to start the car than it does to leave it running is a complete myth. Do any kind of research on it, and you will see that I am right.

Here is an article about someone who tried it themselves to prove it.

http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/driving-habits/follow-up-to-turning-your-car-off/

Writing with eyes = hard grammar time.

@37 yes, but seeing as it takes no fuel to leave the car in neutral now, there's no point in this argument.

because the countdown would probably not be accurate. seriously, we've all been stuck at ridiculously LONG red lights. http://xkcd.com/612/

likewise, how many times have you been stopped at a redlight with NO ONE coming in cross-traffic?

We've had something similar in Ottawa, Canada for awhile now. There's an actual counter that goes 10...9...8... and so on.

I prefer myself to just sit there patiently until the frikkiin light turns green and then move on because i didnt realise big brother was timing my reaction speed off the lights to find humans with the worlds quickest relfexs to turn into superhuman experimental half man half robot warriors.

DAMN..........

@42 your stupid

@ 43 you need to read more booooks

what's that? 38 secs left? that's definitely enough time to run to that hot dog stand...

This is cool. I have seen countdown clocks but this is innovative. I wonder if everyone gets it!

I propose we put a couple skimpy dressed young girls to give us the go. Or one girl and one guy, you know, for the ladies. That will lower the impatience. Too bad in reality that would be expensive. Oooh! I have an idea, make it into a video or hologram! Yes! I'm rich.

Oh and @11: When the pedestrian counter gets to zero their light gets yellow, then red, then a second later, yours gets green. At least that's how it is where I live.

And to the many who said it, I agree, Idle for 5 min spends less gas than turning over the engine. If we were using fully electric cars then it would make sense.

@46 LOWER UNEMPlOYMENT RATES!

LOL, stupid sepos are so obnoxious. Maybe in ten years time they'll be bigging themselves up for using the metric system.

BTW restarting the engine will use more fuel than if you just keep the car running. This is especially pertinant for american cars with their cutting edge 1970's efficiency.

we have this already in the states, they are called crosswalk signs. They count down how long you have to walk across the street. It's quite simple. turn your head and look at the numbers. when it gets to single digits you're good to rev the engine and let the race begin. Silly europeans. who conserves gas anyways. we have an endless supply, right? wait.... we don't?!

Would be better if it had a countdown yellow light. Most people wonder - do I have enough time to get through the yellow light, and some people go through when it's red because they don't know how much time is left.

Needless complication. If you pay attention to the other lights an intersection, you know, observe instead of wacking off, you might see they are plenty of cues when lights are going to change. Simplicity of design rules out over needless adornment.

@37 - I'm a design engineer for Honda. You're wrong.

The article you linked is hardly scientific. I won't bother pointing out all the holes in his theories. It's that kind of pseudoscience that asshats listen to and go buy a hybrid to save the environment.

Just sayin...

@37 but, like, he's got proof on the internet, so, like, he must be right, yeah?

Tell'im Zach. Lol at asshats.

like a few others have mentionned, we've had timers on streetlights in Canada for a few years now (even in the middle of nowhere). i don't understand how this is cutting edge at all, then again the States haven't moved up to the metric system yet either... carry on hahaha

http://www.newpaulsmith.com/paul-smith-shoes-c-518.html

finally something a bit more expected, and we don't have to keep memory of those quick and slow lights.

yeah, also #51 kind of makes a good point.

we already have those here but with actual digits/numbers, or with lights that blink when they're about to end.

In Argentina there are a lot of stop lights with numbers counting down from 9 to 0, but there are only for pedestrians.

Hi there

So, let met get this strait, they want us to turn our engines off so that we can turn them back on 20 seconds or so later? and wear on the starter components? and waste more fuel (most cars waste more fuel starting when the ignition system primes the fuel rail, than idleing.

Did i mention wearing on the starter? So instead of spending money on fuel i have to replace the starter every few months now because im turning my 4cyl truck on and off 100 times a day.

Also if you pay attention to your exhaust, you will notice that a much larger cloud of CO and waste exhaust is expelled during ignition due to the increased fuel-to-air ratio.

DURR HURR SAEV TEH TREES.

What about the kids?

This is like... so new -_-;

re: #17. Uh, NO. at least in Atlanta, there is anywhere from 1 to 6 seconds red/red overlap, so you can't just plan your launch based on the cross-lights.

We've had these in Taiwan for a long time. They serve to shave off a small fraction of potential traffic accidents since nobody pays any attention to traffic laws here. Definitely beats guessing at how long you're gonna sit at the light while late for work...

In Shanghai they have it :)

What you do is at an intersection, look at the other traffic light, the ones on the sides, and when those turn red, yours will turn green.

In addition to @65

Or you could always just ignore any lights and drive through to get to your destination faster.

Or you can build your own flying personal hover craft and fly over the city to get to your destination and park on the roof.

these have existed for a wehile now in the middle east and in the philipenes but they have a digtial countdown on top of the lights its a bad idea people just keep going untill the very last second briliant for drag raceing tho..

In Soviet Russia, light waits for YOU to change!

i'm pretty sure turning off your engine or even putting your car on park at a stop light is illegal...

This is already implemented here in mexico but instead of that it shows a moving person walking and as time passes it starts running so you know you have to run to cross the street. And the red light is a countdown. I'll try and get you the pictures.

ass

Came here to say what #18 said, glad someone else knows that as well!

Awesome, but it isn't really original

My hometown (Ajman) has had a timer on its traffic lights for ages :o

@16

we have those countdowns in Turkey for at least 5 years too. but these look very sleek (Y)

In Hungary, esp in Big cities, there are DIGITAL counter that tell you how many SECONDS are left before it turns green. Seen those back in '97 when I visited there.