There’s nothing worse than being stuck at a traffic light – but your commute could be about to get even longer, if scientists have their way.
Researchers have argued that increasing the amount of time cars have to wait at red lights could encourage commuters to switch to more sustainable transport.
They said traffic lights strongly influence behaviour, and making people wait longer could prompt them to explore other options.
And to make things even worse, they suggest giving buses, cyclists and pedestrians longer green-light time to make them tempting alternatives.
‘Our simulations show that modest reductions in car-prioritized green time shift commuters toward walking, cycling, and public transport without costly infrastructure changes,’ the researchers said.
‘These findings reveal that traffic lights are not just flow regulators but powerful tools to promote sustainable urban mobility and healthier, more efficient cities.’
They said just a 10-20 per cent decrease in the amount of green-light time that cars get is enough to have an impact.
But it could mean several minutes are added to each commute – making it substantially longer.
Researchers said giving cars less green-light time could prompt commuters to switch to alternative modes of transport such as walking, cycling or buses
They also argued that giving more green-light time to cars can actually make car travel slower, as better conditions attract more drivers and therefore add to congestion
For their study the team, from the University of Parma in Italy, created an online model to simulate different traffic scenarios.
They programmed intersections to have varying proportions of green light time for cars and other modes of transport such as buses, cycling and walking.
After running thousands of different simulations they discovered that even modest reductions in the amount of green-light time given to cars would likely drive more people to alternative modes of transport.
They said decreasing car green-light time by 10 to 20 per cent is enough to trigger a change.
In the UK, cars wait for an average of 60 to 90 seconds for a light to change from red to green, and vice-versa.
A 20 per cent change could mean that cars get up to 18 seconds less at a green light, and are forced to wait 18 seconds longer on red.
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the researchers said: ‘In many urban settings, traffic light cycles are often designed to favour car traffic by allocating a larger share of green time to vehicles.
‘However, our results suggest that this strategy can backfire: by prioritizing cars, more commuters are encouraged to drive, which increases congestion and ultimately penalizes car users themselves.’
They said their findings indicate that simply adjusting the cycle length of traffic lights can promote the use of other transport without major infrastructure changes.
‘By shortening the green time for cars or lengthening it for buses, walking and cycling, cities can make alternative modes more attractive and competitive,’ they added.
Previous research by the RAC has found that drivers ‘see red’ when the driver in front of them doesn’t move off within three seconds of a light turning green.
Nearly half of the 2,498 drivers said anything longer than this will likely make them angry and frustrated.
This was especially true for younger drivers under the age of 44, the study found.
Almost a third said they regularly don’t manage to get through a set of traffic lights due to drivers in front being too slow to move off.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘While three seconds is obviously a very short time, anything longer than this can start to seem like an eternity when you desperately want to get through a set of traffic lights and the person in front is taking forever to get going.
‘When you think that some lights only stay green for 15 seconds, this severely limits the number of vehicles that can get through before red comes up again, and this in turn makes jams – and potentially even air pollution – worse.’