Countdown timers at intersections are popular among drivers. They certainly improve their sense of comfort, but they do not improve either safety or intersection capacity. Studies in Poland and around the world show that these devices can lead to dangerous driver behaviour and do not have a positive effect on traffic flow.
The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction is sceptical about installing countdown timers, considering them a waste of public funds. Meanwhile, city and county councillors promise that countdown timers will appear in Bolesławiec.
A comprehensive report on traffic-light countdown timers was published in 2009 in the American Journal for the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Researchers found that countdown timers at intersections cause more collisions because they disrupt drivers’ decision-making processes. Situations arise in which drivers expect the traffic light to change (at the end of the countdown) and assume that the vehicle in front of them will still attempt to cross the intersection. Therefore, instead of slowing down, they accelerate and rear-end a vehicle that has stopped.
In turn, a Taiwanese study published in 2009 found that shortly after a red-light countdown system was installed, there was a significant decrease in the number of vehicles entering intersections prematurely. However, this positive effect was not lasting — about four months after the system was installed, driver behaviour at intersections returned to its pre-installation state.
The only positive effect was recorded in several studies in the case of countdown timers for pedestrians and cyclists.
The brd24.pl road-safety portal has published an extensive article on countdown timers: Countdown timers at intersections. Drivers love them and… that is the end of their advantages.
We encourage councillors and drivers to read it and consider whether it is worth spending enormous amounts of money on countdown timers.