How to stop cars running red lights

Eureka

Maybe a good idea.

Years ago I took a motorcycle learner's test.  The instructor told us he represented some motorcycling organization or other - can't remember which one.  He told us that he had gone to visit the South Australian police and, being a relatively small force, they were quite accommodating and he had been invited into the control room.

He asked us "do you know what I learned when I was in there? Do you know that a red light camera records the number of seconds the light has been on red when it takes the picture? Can anyone guess, of all the pictures that are taken by red light cameras, what the average time is a camera has been on red before it takes a picture? 1 second? ... 2?... No. 34 seconds. Think about that for a moment - that's not the longest time, that's the average time.  What's going on?  The light has been red for so long it's nearly ready to change back to green.  What happens is, all the vehicles that were queuing at the lights waiting for a green light have gone... and the driver of the car sees there are no cars queued up waiting is expecting his light to be green, misses the fact it is red, so he goes sailing through the junction."

NB: If you ever come to a traffic-light controlled junction and there are no cars waiting, take extra care when going through to make sure nobody is running a red light against you.

So what?

Provided that the above information is correct, and car drivers mostly look but don't see a red light, I believe a good way to stop cars running red lights like this is simply to make the amber light flash when the red light is on.

Thanks.

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