The Quest for Safer Intersections

It's happened to every driver. You're driving down the road, approaching an intersection and the green light turns yellow. Now you've got a quick decision to make: slow down and stop or keep going and beat the red. From certain distances, this is an easy decision to make. If the light turns yellow and you're still a block away, you're just not going to make the light so you slow down. If you're already driving through the crosswalk, there's no sense in stopping. But what if you're somewhere in between?

This is what the people who study traffic patterns refer to as the "dilemma zone" – do I have enough time to make it through, or should I slam on the brakes? This dilemma zone is of course also a danger zone, as the decision of whether to stop or keep going can have disastrous or even deadly results.