Hello Everyone,

I have a personal question regarding a traffic light near my office.

This particular traffic light is at an intersection on a main road with entry/exit branches to shopping centres on both sides of the street. Generally throughout the day there is enough traffic that cars will be coming out the shopping centres regularly, but in the early mornings when the shopping centres are still closed, there are no cars waiting at the light trying to turn out of the centres.

So what happens when I am driving to the office at 7am there are no cars waiting to leave either centre, so the traffic light on the main rod goes green - amber - red and then it will be red in all directions for the three seconds and then it will go green again on the main road.

The reason I ask is I seem to get stuck behind cars that see that the light is read and they stop at the light, check the radio, their phone, sip of coffee, or whatever they do, they assume the light is going to be red, but it goes back green immediately. I know that drivers should not be distracted and it is ultimately their responsibility, but this seems to be a potential safety risk. Why would it not just stay green?

Is this a new method of timing for lights or is this a mix-up? I cannot think of anywhere else I have seen this, but at the same time, unless I am driving to work, I am rarely on the roads under these traffic conditions.