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Hourglass Traffic Light Concept Presented

It has been a decent amount of time since the auto world met those little gadgets which make the live and traffic on public roads easier. Traffic lights have long become for traffic what the wheel has become for the car: essential.

Yet, none of us are really happy when we are stopped by that dreaded red light. The creators of these infernal gadgets on the other hand were never happy with their design. Over the years, they've tried several versions, starting with the good old traffic lights, going through the talking traffic lights and ending with LED ones.

Now, it's time for a different approach. Thanva Tivawong, a designer who has been working on a new interpretation of the traffic light, has come up with what he calls Sand Glass, a sort of countdown traffic light which looks and behaves like an hourglass.

The Sand Glass uses LED lights to render the usual traffic light colors: red, yellow and green. The difference is that the LED are positioned in such a way that they make up an hour glass. The time left before the changing of the color is graphically rendered as the sand in the hourglass flowing.

Only when there are three seconds left before the change of the light, numbers, starting with 3, are used to show the remaining time. The number, however, only apply to the yellow light, in an attempt to better prepare the people for the change in color.

Obviously, this type of traffic light is a bit better than the regular ones, as it gives you a better understanding of how much time you have left before the color changes. It is however probably less effective than the countdown light who use numbers, because it requires everyone to estimate the time. And estimation is, as we all know, a matter of personal skill.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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