I
was in Hangzhou, China as a tourist about 3 three years ago.   Like
most big cities in China, Hangzhou is said to be crowded with at
least 7 millions people at that time.  With a lot of historical relics, beautiful scenic spots, together with modern and fancy
high-rise buildings, all types of automobiles and newly built highways, the city truly amazed me.  One of the
interesting things that drew my attention a lot was the traffic
lights system the city government installed. All the traffic lights on intersections seem
to be equipped with a device which counts the time down for every
green light, yellow light and red light.  The system precisely shows
the remaining time of each light.   I have never seen that kind of
traffic lights in any city in the United States.  I think that's a wonderful system for all drivers and pedestrians who are either driving toward the traffic
lights or waiting in front of them.

The system makes the drivers
follow the signals more accurately and more economically, because it helps the drivers to avoid unnecessary acceleration or braking.  Without the
device, the drivers would not be able to know when would the traffic
lights change and may end up driving in high gear when
seeing the soon-to-be-changing green light still on.  It would lead to a lot of
abrupt stops as a result when the traffic lights change without any warning.   Some drivers, if already driving in high speed, may try to beat the yellow light
or even dangerously run the red light.  With the device, the drivers would be able
to tell whether the remaining time is enough for them to pass through
the intersection so that they could decide a moment earlier whether they
need to drive in full speed or in reduced speed. Because of that,
the system helps the drivers to save gas, to extend the automatic transmission's life, to reduce air pollution and to lower
traffic accident as well.

Instead of installing a truly excellent traffic lights system, the government of the city where I live introduced
the Automated Red Light Camera
Enforcement Program
about 2 years ago. The officials of the city government claimed
that prior to its implementation of the red light camera program, the
city averaged nearly 17 traffic crashes per
day, over 8 traffic injuries per day, and a traffic fatality about
every 23 days. In cities across my state, statistically, the most
probable way to be killed or injured is in a traffic crash. The
officials promised that they would do everything they could to help
reduce the frequency of these tragedies, therefore, they decided to
implement Red Light Camera program. They said it's the best way to
increase traffic safety in the city by reducing the number of red
light violations, crashes, and resulting injuries and deaths...

Since its implementation, the red light violations as well as rear
end collisions have been increasing, not decreasing. The program,
therefore, has triggered a lot of backlash. A lot of drivers
complained that they got “ticketed” after passing through yellow
light. “The
city government is disgusting.” One of my back door neighbors who
was “ticketed” by the camera complained about what happened to
him a month ago. “ I did not run the red light. I ran the yellow
light which is legal. I really didn't know what happened, how the
fucking camera worked and when did the camera begin to “press”
the shutter button.” He went on to say that “the city is in
budget trouble and is financially motivated to enforce this program
in the name of reducing the traffic accidents and of taking good care
of the residents' safety. They might have shortened the yellow light
span for “profits”. Under this system, a lot of drivers would have very good chances to be
the “victims”.   Although I don't know whether the city government did intentionally shorten the yellow light time, I do agree with most of what he said. I think
traffic laws and regulations must be designed to ensure safety. But
obviously this program is not an effective system to minimize
accidents, because a lot of abrupt stops at the traffic lights have
caused many rear end collisions.

Not
long ago, a devastating traffic accident happened in my city. All
five family members were killed in a fatal crash when a SUV ran the
red light and slammed into a minivan heading home after church
service, killing all five including two adults and three children at the
scene. The driver of the SUV was in critical condition at a local
hospital. He was trying to beat the yellow light while driving
toward an intersection, speeding up when seeing the light changing from yellow to red and ending up with running the red light at 100 miles per hour.
The driver who committed this horrific manslaughter was absolutely
insane and inexcusable. But if the city government had installed
the count-the-time-down device with the traffic lights system, not the red light camera, a tragedy like that might have been avoided.