At the Traffic Light

Posted by Daniel Flück on April 16th, 2006 filed in Pics
8 Comments »

8 Responses to “At the Traffic Light”

Audrey Says:
September 12th, 2006 at 7:17
Wait
Daniel Fluck Says:
September 12th, 2006 at 13:39
Sure?
jb Says:
November 20th, 2008 at 3:06
I assume all lights are until I see (SEE) that it is safe to continue.
jb Says:
November 20th, 2008 at 3:10
(choose colour) is missing from Between are and until. bah!
Richard Healy Says:
January 30th, 2009 at 17:54
Wait.

Even though red is to me essentially the same as amber and green looks..well… like a normal light-bulb – just bright. So I tend to go by position.

I know the top one should be red, even if, like the picture above, it doesn;t look it, so in either case I stop.
Jeff Says:
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:37
We just found out our son is red green color blind. My first thought was how will he drive someday. I’m concerned, how is it done?
Grahame Says:
March 4th, 2009 at 12:46
The trick is to be awake and look at the position, you can tell the bulb is on and where it sits in the order tells you what to do. You just develop skills.

The only times I have problems are if the sun is behind me and shining on the traffic lights, then I approach and it looks like the lights aren’t on if the red light is lit. So I wait, then amber comes on and I can see it. Second, in UK we have amber street lights that look just like the red light, if you’re not paying attention you can confuse the red light with the street lights (as I have done – it was alright). The trick is to be aware of the danger and be careful!
Skip Says:
November 26th, 2009 at 17:53
I’ve been driving for 35 years without a traffic accident and I have both Protanopia and Deuteranomaly colorblindness. Driving really isn’t a problem for me.

It’s true that green lights are close to white lights, but they’re really not the the one’s to worry about. I can easily tell red and yellow lights apart by their position (red-top, yellow-middle) — although I will say that yellow lights generally throw off more light. Brake lights aren’t an issue, because they’re really bright, and any bright color, especially any color increasing in brightness on the rear of a vehicle will catch my eye without me having to pay any extra attention.

So, in answer to Jeff above, unless you live in a state with overzealous lawmakers, which my state, Massachusetts, seems to be approaching, your son will probably do fine driving.

In my opinion, the biggest issue that you might want to be aware of is a possible self-esteem issue that a colorblind child might acquire at a young age. Colorblind children figure out pretty quickly that other kids know their colors and they don’t. Colors are one of the first things we learn, and therefore one of the first apparent learning failures. If a child doesn’t learn about their colorblindness until well into elementary school, there’s a chance that they’ll internalize this failure.