This dude explains how traffic lights actually work

Oct 27, 2024

Lifestyle

Published on Oct 27, 2024 at 12:00 AM (UTC+4) by Claire Reid

Last updated on Oct 22, 2024 at 12:22 PM (UTC+4) Edited by Tom Wood

A man has shared the secrets of exactly how traffic lights work and it turns out that there’s a lot more to it than you may have thought.

We all know the basic setup of traffic lights – used to control the flow of traffic on roads, with a red light meaning stop, a green light meaning go, and an amber light that lets you know it’s about to turn red and you should stop unless it’s dangerous to do so.

Simple right?

But it turns out there’s quite a bit behind those lights and one man user is revealing the interesting technology behind the simple traffic light.

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While most of us probably don’t give a second thought to traffic lights and how they work, others have more inquisitive minds.

Others such as appropriately- named Traffic Light Doctor – or @trafficlightdoctor as he’s known on TikTok.

The man behind the account is a guy called Steven who works as a traffic signal technician in Mississippi.

He uses social media to help share insider information and dispel some myths about how traffic lights work.

In one clip, he revealed that the cameras commonly spotted on top of a set of lights aren’t always there to catch motorists who fly through a red.

Although some of the cameras sat atop a set of lights will be checking for drivers ignoring the stop signal, Steven explained that some of them have a very different job.

He revealed that the camera is actually a sensor that detects vehicles and responds accordingly.

The camera is able to note the number of vehicles and their position in the lane.

Steven then showed a controller box to reveal what the camera ‘sees’ – lines of white squares that change to blue when occupied by a car or remain white if empty.

So, if the boxes are all white – and therefore no cars are waiting – the lights on the other side won’t change color because there’s no point in slowing down oncoming traffic.

Steven says this also explains why sometimes it seems as though the light takes forever to change to green – and it’s all down to being picked up by the sensor.

Cars parked too far forward or too far back, run the risk of not being spotted by the sensor meaning they might have a bit longer to wait before it changes.

The more you know, eh?

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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.