Traffic lights are inefficient tools to handle traffic flow and minimise accidents because they encourage drivers to travel too fast and keep dangerously close to the vehicle in front for fear of missing a green light. Kenneth Todd of the Cato Institute says this combination of high speed, tail-gating, diverted attention and sudden stops causes rear end collisions.
In addition, traffic signals cause congestion because they don’t moderate the use of the intersection efficiently: often cars sit idly by at a red light only to have no traffic using the green light. Overall, about 40 percent of the vehicle delays in urban areas are due to traffic signal inefficiencies.
Todd’s findings suggest that using more roundabouts and more four-way stops will cut down on lost time, taxpayer expense and accidents. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA):
The U.S. motoring public pays an estimated $123 billion annually in lost time, wasted fuel, and other vehicle operation costs, plus billions more for high-tech electronics to moderate America’s intersections, says Todd.
Source: Kenneth Todd, Traffic Control: An Exercise in Self-Defeat, Regulation, Fall 2004.
For text http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv27n3/v27n3-brieflynoted.pdf
For more on Land Issues Transit http://eteam.ncpa.org/policy/Land_Issues/Transit/
FMF Policy Bulletin/ 18 January 2005
