Why We Wait at Red Lights at Empty Intersections

In the late 1920s, a traffic light in Baltimore turned green when a driver honked. Almost a hundred years later, drivers still sit at red lights at empty intersections in the middle of the night. Is that the price of safety, or is something else going on? 0:00 The button that does nothing 1:32 The light that can't see the car 3:50 Stuck in someone else's schedule 5:31 Who checks the lights? 8:00 "Installed where not needed" 9:24 Why not just flash at night? 11:23 Blind or forgotten 12:53 Lights that already work better Sources FHWA — MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 4: Highway Traffic Signals (2023): https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/11th_... FHWA — Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (2016): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/p... NTOC / ITE — 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card: https://transops.s3.amazonaws.com/upl... FHWA — Traffic Detector Handbook, Sensor Maintenance (2006): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications... FHWA — Discontinuing Late-Night Flash Operations at Signalized Intersections (2013): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications... FHWA — ATSPM Case Study: Utah DOT (2018): https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications... IIHS — Roundabout conversions in Carmel, Indiana (2022): https://www.iihs.org/topics/bibliogra... Music: "Hidden Agenda", "Dreamy Flashback", "Deliberate Thought", "Wallpaper", "Unanswered Questions", "Interloper", "Night Vigil", "Constance", "Inspired", "Heartwarming" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0 — http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Photo: "Saw Cut Loop Detectors" by Z22, CC BY-SA 3.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo: Traffic signal control box, Philadelphia, by Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Photo: SounderBruce, CC BY-SA 2.0 — https://www.flickr.com/photos/sounder... Figure: Tachet et al., "Revisiting Street Intersections Using Slot-Based Systems", PLOS ONE (2016), CC BY 4.0 — https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....