11/17/2005
Arizona: State Senator Wants Standardized Yellow TimesState senator wants to lengthen the minimum yellow signal time in Arizona.
Arizona State Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Martin (R-Phoenix) wants more warning time at intersections. He has introduced a bill establishing a four second minimum yellow signal time for Arizona intersections. Last year, the Texas Transportation Institute released a study concluding that increasing the yellow warning time by one second could reduce crashes by 40 percent. Similarly, red light running violations dropped 96 percent at a Virginia intersection that lengthened yellow time by 1.5 seconds.
This kind of change does not sit well with city transportation engineers responsible for intersections that operate red light camera programs. Several opposed the standardization measure, saying it would cause "congestion" and that engineers should handle the issue on their own. Martin's legislation would allow exceptions only for a good cause and with a vote of the city council.