A Workable Solution for Reducing the Large Number of Vehicle and Pedestrian Accidents Occurring on a Yellow Light

作     者：Pranav Gupta Silki Arora Pranav Gupta;Silki Arora

作者机构：Drive Safe Now Ottawa Canada 

出 版 物：《Journal of Transportation Technologies》 (交通科技期刊（英文）)

年 卷 期：2024年第14卷第1期

页      面：82-87页

学科分类：08[工学] 082303[工学-交通运输规划与管理] 082302[工学-交通信息工程及控制] 0823[工学-交通运输工程] 

主　　题：Traffic Accidents Yellow Light Traffic Light Signals Intersection Crashes Collision Traffic Fatalities Traffic Injuries Vehicles Safety Speed Limit Driving Pedestrians Bicyclists Motorcyclists Caution Line Yellow Light Dilemma Left Hand Turn on Yellow Distance Smart Road Technology Signs Signage Autonomous Vehicles AVs Road Safety IoT Internet of Things Infrastructure Accident Reduction Driving Habits Stop Line Red Light Jumping Pedestrian Safety Caution Light Stopping at Intersection Safety at Intersections 

摘      要：Traffic intersections are incredibly dangerous for drivers and pedestrians. Statistics from both Canada and the U.S. show a high number of fatalities and serious injuries related to crashes at intersections. In Canada, during 2019, the National Collision Database shows that 28% of traffic fatalities and 42% of serious injuries occurred at intersections. Likewise, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) found that about 40% of the estimated 5,811,000 accidents in the U.S. during the year studied were intersection-related crashes. In fact, a major survey by the car insurance industry found that nearly 85% of drivers could not identify the correct action to take when approaching a yellow traffic light at an intersection. One major reason for these accidents is the “yellow light dilemma, the ambiguous situation where a driver should stop or proceed forward when unexpectedly faced with a yellow light. This situation is even further exacerbated by the tendency of aggressive drivers to inappropriately speed up on the yellow just to get through the traffic light. A survey of Canadian drivers conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation found that 9% of drivers admitted to speeding up to get through a traffic light. Another reason for these accidents is the increased danger of making a left-hand turn on yellow. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), left turns occur in approximately 22.2% of collisions—as opposed to just 1.2% for right turns. Moreover, a study by CNN found left turns are three times as likely to kill pedestrians than right turns. The reason left turns are so much more likely to cause an accident is because they take a driver against traffic and in the path of oncoming cars. Additionally, most of these left turns occur at the driver’s discretion—as opposed to the distressingly brief left-hand arrow at busy intersections. Drive Safe Now proposes a workable solution for reducing the number of accidents occ