Do cars that stay at a green traffic light for too long really cause the light to go red faster again? Yes, often. Belgian research shows that smartphones are often the culprit.
By using the smartphone, drivers sometimes notice later that the traffic light is green. As a result, there is a gap between them and the car in front, causing the sensors in the road surface to make an incorrect estimate. The detection loops of the traffic lights get confused by hesitant motorists, as it turned out earlier during Belgian research. “The sensors think that it is less busy than it actually is, so that they jump to red again,” said a spokesman for the Agency for Roads and Traffic. No problem for the slow motorist himself because he can often just pass orange, but for the cars behind it.
In Belgium, 99 percent of all intersections have, among other things, detection loops or cameras for signaling traffic on the road, and in the Netherlands, too, the majority of all intersections are equipped with detection equipment. Connecting when driving off in front of a traffic light may not immediately help your progress in traffic, but it does help the people waiting behind you and it also improves traffic flow.