Hourglass traffic light concept is street racing’s best friend

Designer Thanva Tivawong has come up with a solution for all you impatient drivers out there. What if you knew exactly when a stoplight was going to change from green to yellow, or more importantly, from red to green? In theory, traffic would be expedited and drivers would be less likely to try to beat yellow lights in the rush to make good time. That’s exactly the logic behind the hourglass stoplight concept you see above. As time soldiers on, the pixels in the light drain from top to bottom. When time’s up, the light changes color and the process starts all over again.

There are a couple of problems with this notion. First, colorblind drivers are left completely in the cold. More importantly, we’re also concerned about the idea of basically turning every intersection into a drag strip, complete with fully-functional Christmas trees. It’d be great for the street racing scene, sure, but we don’t want to give the granny in the lane next to us an excuse to lay down her best ETA when the light goes green.

[Source: Engadget]