i will never understand why us traffic lights go immediately from red to green. you have a whole-ass third light to use for signaling that the light is about to change, so people don’t have to floor it due to an unexpected change.
That’s because practically nobody here drives a car with a manual transmission, and the reason for those in Europe is (or originally was) to give drivers notice when they need to get back into gear.
A knock-on consequence of this is that nobody in the US knows how to drive, they just point the wheel vaguely in some direction and mash the skinny pedal. If they don’t get the result they wanted, they stomp on the pedal harder. You ought to watch chucklefucks try to drive in the snow, especially those with SUVs and muscle cars with rear wheel drive. People treat the throttle as if it’s the “make the car go in the direction I’m looking button” and the rest of us know that’s not how it works.
i will never understand why us traffic lights go immediately from red to green. you have a whole-ass third light to use for signaling that the light is about to change, so people don’t have to floor it due to an unexpected change.
Drivers in the US would start treating that middle light as go and we’d be right back to square one
seems like a pretty good reason for revoking a licence to me
That’s because practically nobody here drives a car with a manual transmission, and the reason for those in Europe is (or originally was) to give drivers notice when they need to get back into gear.
A knock-on consequence of this is that nobody in the US knows how to drive, they just point the wheel vaguely in some direction and mash the skinny pedal. If they don’t get the result they wanted, they stomp on the pedal harder. You ought to watch chucklefucks try to drive in the snow, especially those with SUVs and muscle cars with rear wheel drive. People treat the throttle as if it’s the “make the car go in the direction I’m looking button” and the rest of us know that’s not how it works.
surely traffic lights pre-date automatics?
It’s not hard if you can see the other lights in the intersection.
but why depend on that?
No idea.
they used to have this. it did not go well.
wait, what? why not? it works for the rest of the world…
would be interested to know an example country you’re thinking of.
Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, most of Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK, Argentina, Bahrain, Botswana, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, some places in Indonesia, Israel, Liberia, Macau, Pakistan, Paraguay, and the United Arab Emirates
wild stuff. thanks!