Cool Concept: Sand Glass Traffic Light (3 pics)

So you're stuck at a traffic light and have no idea how much time you have to wait. Thanks to designer Thanva Tivawong, the Sand Glass traffic light solves this problem in a clever way.

As the time on either a red or green light runs out, the sand glass shows visually how much time is left. As it approaches time to change, the light turns yellow.

Although I like the creativity behind this concept, there are a couple huge design flaws. First, the light is not color blind-friendly at all. Second, the yellow "ready" light after the red "wait" light could cause accidents because people could confuse it with the other yellow "prepare to stop" light. For these reasons, I prefer this concept better.

via [yanko design]

Tags: Cool Concept, Glass, Light, Sand, Traffic

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Comment by SheSang on March 1, 2011 at 11:01pm: The issue with these lights has nothing to do with the two amber signals (albeit this being a bit of an issue to stupid drivers).
Nor does it have anything to do with colour blindness (the standard circular traffic lights are coloured, so how is this any different?)
The issue is with cost of implementation. Knowing local governments like I do, no council would find this a financially feasible option.

Comment by shami shin on December 3, 2010 at 7:37am: thats what we need in the US

Comment by JennaCarol on November 22, 2010 at 12:31pm: Besides the colorblind thing, you also wouldn't be able to tell if the light is about to turn red or about to turn green as there are 2 yellows in the light cycle.

Comment by Sophie on November 20, 2010 at 10:42am: I agree with marica, it's unrealizable.

Comment by Amy Wong on November 19, 2010 at 5:14pm: I think it's BRILLIANT!

Comment by Inthemirror on November 19, 2010 at 4:39pm: I agree with Marica.

Comment by Visnja V on November 19, 2010 at 6:23am: ♥ smaRTraffic ;)

Comment by Marica on November 19, 2010 at 2:12am: I love all kinds of innovation but this concept is too dangerous...What about people who are colorblind? There is no way to distinguish between the red to green states! I agree with you, the other concept is better! Great find Eugene ;)