The biggest problem I have with amber lights is I have to check my mirrors and make sure it's safe to jump on the brakes, other drivers might not be able to react as fast as me and considering most other drivers are right up behind me it's a big factor in deciding if I'm going to brake or just boot it. I passed my test almost a year ago, partly thanks to your videos. Ironic that as soon as you pass your test there is a whole new world of driving to learn and you don't have anybody next to you. I guess that's why I keep watching! :)

And for the very reasons highlighted here, approaching a green light is far more difficult than red... great videos.

Definitely one of the things I struggled with when I was learning a few years ago - on one of my very first mock tests I did, I stopped at an amber light, thinking i was still far enough away, but actually ended up stopping just over the stop line, and my instructor said i shouldve just kept going (got a minor for it.) In my next mock test, the exact same thing happened, and the distance i was from the lights when they turned amber was very similar. I didnt slow down and was going to continue, as I rembered what my instructor had said in the last mock test, but this time my instructor slammed on the brakes, and said i needed to stop (obviously failed for that!) There really isn't a good solution in my opinion :/

In Finland this issue is solved by road design, and light design to an extent. The maximum speed limit at a light controlled intersection is 70 km/h (a bit over 40 mph). If there are any pedestrian crossings, which there are in 95% of cases, the maximum speed limit is 60 km/h (just a bit shy of 40 mph). The length of the amber also changes, it's a minimum of 3 seconds always. But at 60 km/h it's 4 seconds, and at 70 km/h it's 5 seconds. I think it's pretty crazy that you can be going 60 mph and might have to stop for a traffic light.

Spot on. Often have this problem on faster roads, particularly 50mph and 60mph road. The amber light length is wholly insufficient. It is definitely dangerous.

I totally agree with you and I have seen a solution to this problem from countries in Eastern Europe (Baltic region iirc). What some countries do to their traffic lights are make the green light flash for the last few seconds before changing to yellow. The light is still green but gives everyone advance notice it's about to change. Would be easy to implement here too.

i could totally see you doing a car show like top gear, top guy, top instructor

In Greece, speed limit is 50km/h (30mls/hr) for most intersections - essentially, you are not allowed to cross a light driving at higher speeds (although, you can easily imagine that this rule is not always abidden by). Also, there are warning traffic lights BEFORE the actual intersection, which, when flashing amber, let you know that the light is about to become red.

my solution would be to put a timer on the traffic lights so you would know how long until the lights change.

I would like to say Big thanks for this man he's Legend . I watch he's video every day and today 23/05/22 I went to test and passed my driving test with 1 minor.

As a qualified driver I still sometimes struggle judging whether or not I should stop or keep going when the lights turn to amber, especially when getting close to them. I find this issue is made worse the faster you are going, as should you need to stop, it will take longer to do so. Obviously if i'm right on top of the lights when they change I should keep going as others behind me would no doubt expect me to go through and wouldn't expect me to stop, if I did stop suddenly with vehicles behind, they may run into me. Usually what I do, is, when a light has been green for some time, I take my foot off the accelerator on the appraoch and get ready to brake. I do this until I am so close to the lights that I would have no choice but to continue through, at that point I get back on the accelerator and continue as normal. Though sometimes I still get caught out and am unable to stop in time, usually at high speed (50+MPH), and have stopped over the line. So yes I agree, amber should be on for longer.

Just passed my test a week ago and id like to say thankyou for your videos they helped me in a huge way! And ill still carry on watching your videos too. Keep safe and thanks again

I'm so happy I've passed with only 2 minors! Your videos have been very helpful and knowing that an amber light is only 3 seconds definitely helps to work out whether or not you should stop or keep going :)

I had to come back to this channel to say thank you! I would see people post how you helped them passed and prayed one day it would be me. I passed second time (less than 2 weeks after I failed my first attempt) and my success is greatly owed to you. Thank you so much for making driving make more sense ❤️

Hello Richard,I just want to say abig thank you for all you do to help learners like me, especially with anxiety. I passed my test last Thursday with 2 minors at third attempt. I shall continue watching these videos to improve my skills 😊

I passed my practical driving test today! Thank you Richard, your videos were so beneficial to my learning outside of my driving lessons. I wish I found your content prior to my other two tests. It feels great finally being able to watch these videos knowing I have my licence now; however, the real learning starts now!

Hey Richard👋 I got my driver's licence last week and I just wanted to say thank you for all the effort you put into your videos, they have really helped me so much! 👏 👏 Thank you from the bottom of my heart😁🤗❤

Very happy to say I passed my test yesterday, but I'm still tuning in for your tips. Very helpful, thank you.

i definitely agree that they are too short. i live near a 40mph road which has sets of traffic lights down it and it feels as if im going to throw everyone in the car through the windscreen when i have to stop quickly for them let alone any higher speed limits!

Highway code states you must stop at amber unless it is unsafe, and you've proven that it's unsafe to stop at amber even at 30 mph roads, that means the solution is to always keep going on if it hass just turned to amber. The speed limit won't matter too since at higher speed you'll travel more distance in those three seconds to cross the line before red.

It might help if the UK were to adopt a similar system to Austria, Hungary and some other central European where the green flashes for a couple of seconds before changing to Amber. I found some of the amber lights could be extremely quick though and basically leaving you with the same issue. As a bonus I wish we would adopt the Austrian system where many traffic lights automatically switch to constant amber flashing at night turning the controlled junction into a regular junction so you don't end up sitting at the red lights with not another car in sight.

In Alaska, where the road conditions get very icy and ridiculously hard to stop a car on some roads, I learned to slow down when approaching a traffic light intersection, even if the light is still green (just like you mentioned in the video). It's the only way to ensure you can stop before the intersection. It sucks because it increases the chances that you'll have to stop for it, and it reduces traffic flow when you have to slow down for a green light because of "what if?"s. I _WISH_ there was a yellow light that came on while the light was green to let you know it's about to turn just yellow, so it gives you time to prepare and decide if you can safely stop or not.

I passed my practical test last week!! I just wanted to thank you for making your videos. I find them very helpful as they explain things in a very intuitive way. Your tip about keeping your knee in the centre of the road really helped and had an immediate effect on my driving. As trivial as it sounds this really helped me feel more confident on the road. Keep up the great work.

I completely agree. My partner was fined a couple of years ago for going through ONE second after it had turned red, in icy road conditions, at 40mph. He could not stop safely. If he had braked hard enough to stop at the light it could have very likely caused an accident.

Got my test tomorrow. Am nervous 😓 but watching ur videos has helped loads. Thank u so much 😁

Great observation and explanation, Richard! This issue seems quite difficult! But in Hong Kong, we have learnt a quite useful skill to face possible amber lights, which is called 「燈前決定點」(literally means the point to make decisions in front of the traffic lights). We usually estimated the distance about 4 seconds away before the light. If our car smoothly pass this point, then we should go ahead safely even if the light goes yellow! I hope this practice in HK would inspire the drivers in the UK. Thanks!

The only real solution is to pay attention to the green light before you get there. If it has been green for a while, you'd better slow down. If it's a relatively new green, say a couple seconds, you're most probably good to go

You mentioned about this issue on roads up to 60mph. I'd like to add that I know of several stretches of 70mph dual carriageways which also have traffic lights. To me that is utter madness. If they can't change the road design to have a proper interchange without traffic lights then at least reduce the speed limit on the approach for goodness sakes! Of course, it would be madness to approach traffic lights at 70mph but as we all know, there are some drivers who will think it's ok to drive at 70mph "because that's the speed limit".

Completely agree, the amber light is too short. I've had this problem a few times. My instructor told me to anticipate and assess how long the green light has been on. It works in some cases, but the timing of the green depends on the junction, area, and time of the day, so it's impossible to anticipate when the amber will appear. As a result I sometimes approach the lights with hesitation - not great! Thank you for all the videos, they are brilliant!

A very informative video and I hope the authorities consider coming up with a lasting safe solution.

They should create a traffic light where we are given a countdown when it’ll turn red or green instead of changing suddenly

My first accident after 2 weeks of getting a license was exactly that. It was a big junction and I wasn't sure I will make across it in time with the lights changing to amber. I stopped a bit more harsh then usually, but my bags didn't start flying (this is how I measure the safeness of stops myself). The driver behind me unfortunately expected different behaviour and hit me slightly from behind. I thought here, in Berlin, amber lights do vary in length, based on junction size for example, so there is more time to clear it, but now I am not sure anymore... Also making traffic lights vary on speed limit might not work all the time, because there are also time/weather/vehicle type condition speed limits, which would be very complicated to implement in a traffic light.

Definitely agree with you. I wonder how the road signalling planning is like over in Europe, particularly in Holland etc. They have a lot better city planning than we do.

This is why in uk everyone goes on very late amber/red. In Poland in a few places there is a timer next to the light. And this is the best solution in my opinion because you can adjust your speed accordingly.

Love your videos 🧡

I totally agree with you. We also have to check mirrors before breaking which adds time. Then based on what you see a decision has to made as to go or not as the car behind could be close. Which means 3 seconds is definitely not enough time.

Great video again rich!

I agree. With us in the Netherlands, they did get amber to stay on longer. And I think it worked out great.

7:33 I know those traffic lights, it's a 50mph road and quite a steep downhill, lots of cars you can come completely off throttle and gravity maintains you going 50mph. Having to stop from 50 to 0 in 3s isn't something I like doing in my small 1.2ton car. When I had blackbox insurance, everytime i got caught out by those lights, i'd get a mark against me on the app, maybe the insurance company would prefer me to go through the red light! I can imagine for heavy vehicles it's even more of a pain, a bus with standing passengers might have issues onboard!

I was taught to check for pedestrians on the faster roads as im approaching and itll give you a good idea if its going to change from green ❤

definitely, I am in Australia. one year ago, I got my license by watching videos including yours(Thank you Buddy) and doing practices. In fact , until now, I still feel unconfortable when it comes down to the amber light situation especially in the busy road and there are some cars chasing you behind.

I think if everone anticipate knowing the light has been green for long should be no problem 🤔 definitely agree with you during rainy and icy conditions

This is a UK roads problem. In some countries (in Eastern Europe) they either implement flashing greenlight for about 3 seconds before it turns amber. Or even install sections with countdown - so that you can see how many seconds left for the green/red light. Very convenient. Hope the UK will come to that in some years.

That was my first shock when I came to Turkey by car: amber light was so unexpected that I thought there is no way it is safe. It's like a traffic light's purpose is to surprise you, instead of make it safe. :D Thanks for confirming my thoughts. Now getting to the traffic light here I always anticipate the change - not that great of experience really :D. Never had this issue in Russia (Moscow). Here how this problem is solved there: 1) all traffic lights have blinking green first for about 3-5 seconds, only then amber for 3-5 seconds, and then you get red. As a result you have a bunch of time to prepare. 2) most of the traffic lights have countdown timer, especially on high risk intersections and on high speed roads. And even those green timers are blinking when the time is close to five seconds to grab driver's attention.

From Physics point of view that's not quite a right logic. Yes, it takes roughly 3 seconds to stop completely, but nobody forces you to stop as soon as you see the red light, when you're far enough from the light. That means in your logic you omit how far you are from the red light. If I'm to use your example of amber light in a 60 mph zone - in full emergency 1,1G braking it takes about 30 meters to strop from 60 mph. However when you do the maths, you will travel 80 meters at that speed if you don't start braking. That means, that if you're at 80 meters of the Traffic light when it turns amber, you can continue without braking to still go through without going through red light. On the other hand, you need 30 meters to stop the car from 60 (in perfect conditions), that is to be about 1,2 seconds from the traffic light. Which means that if you're 3 seconds of steady drive from the traffic light, you can think for 1,8 seconds, cover the 50 meters and then when you brake hard, you will still breake just before the white line. And yes, the light will turn red before you've stopped, but that's not illegal. On the other hand, if you were exactly at 3 seconds from the stop light, you would think for 1 sec, that would still leave you 53 meters to stop which is an average deceleration of 0,7G, which is not ideal but still doable. That is though the worst case scenario, when you could have made it by continuing on but instead you judged it wrong after a second of hesitation. Which btw corresponds to what we have all gone through at some point....

I definitely agree. It has been one of my biggest problem when learning how to drive. I have been trying to time it but it is just too short and I end up breaking harshly. I am scared that someone can crush me on the back of the car so I have been slowing down when there is a traffic light and as soon as I am close to the line I just increase the speed. So that will give me more time to react.

Even when you did the test with safe stopping, you knew you were going to stop and when you were going to stop, so it didn't truly include reaction time. So many things on our highways need improving, from road surfaces to traffic lights.

I like your vieods, and your style.

In the US, the yellow light varies between 3 to 6 seconds long, depending on the speed limit of the road. The rule of thumb there is that the first number of the speed limit corresponds to the length of the yellow light. Here in Russia, most traffic lights flash green for 3 seconds before changing to a 3 second amber. In the UK, the amber light is fixed at 3 seconds, but it's not really a problem. This is because almost all British traffic lights have vehicle detection, either running the older Vehicle Actuation system (VA), or the more recent improved Microprocessor Optimised Vehicle Actuation system (MOVA). The detectors either take form of inductive loops cut into the road, which can be spotted by loops of tars before traffic lights, or can take form of radars mounted on top of traffic light signal heads. The basic operation of VA, is that after a minimum green period for a road, the green light will be held, until the gap between vehicles passing the detector exceeds a specified value. That value also is the amount of time the green light is extended by. There also is a maximum green value, which when exceeded will forcefully terminate the green light, to avoid excessively delaying other traffic. On roads where most vehicles approach the junction at or below 35 mph, that's all there is. However, when approach speeds exceed 35 mph, special equipment is necessary to avoid changing the traffic lights when vehicles are in a "dilemma zone". If you don't know what that is, a dilemma zone is an area before an amber traffic light, in which some drivers will decide to stop, and some drivers will keep going. Without this special equipment, there would be a risk of rear-end collisions when the traffic light changes to amber. Under VA, this takes form of additional detectors slightly far from the traffic lights, which analyze the speed of approaching vehicles, and extend the green light by a specified value for vehicles travelling above a specified speed. Under the more recent MOVA, there are no additional detectors, since it calculates the position of approaching vehicles based on the time passed from when they were detected, and extends the green light until there are no more vehicles in the dilemma zone.

I would say as an instructor, it would be about teaching people to anticipate the potential light change on approach rather than changing the length of the light itself. I think something that could help is having a distance line painted for the speed limit of the road, where it is a safe stopping distance before the line if the lights change, so you know if you can stop safely before them. Would also help visualise stopping distances to students too.

Definitely agree with you 💯

There's several horrible traffic light junctions on the A27 where the speed limit is 70 mph where I slowed right down to be sure then had to floor it to be sure it was still green. I also failed my first test for hard stopping at an amber. It almost happened on the second one too

We have a lot of 20mph roads around where I live (Edinburgh and East Lothian) and some areas have very quick lights and some have very slow lights. One is so slow you can see the person walking up to the lights and pressing the button and I have never had the light change from green while I have been driving through. Then about 3 miles away we have a set of lights where you can be in the zig-zags just before the lights and a person can walk up press the button and it will change before you are at the line so its a emergency stop.

Some countries have that 2-3 seconds before amber green is starting to blink, to alert you that amber will come soon. In my experience it usually adds enough time to choose: can you have time to go through the light or that you should start slowing down. Seeing traffic lights without a blinking green signal (and experiencing it in ETS2) really makes me feel uncomfortable, since I live in a country that has the signal

I believe from experience that the delay in lights turning green after opposing ones turn red are junction specific to take into account a number of factors such as width of the junction, speed of opposing Road etc.

Great video on a debate with many opinions and no solutions 😉

Hi, your videos are really making an impact on my driving and I have improved a lot. I am in Ireland, can you make a video on reversing around a corner which is on the test here . Thank you

“Road Guy Rob” made a similar video about yellow lights being too short. Apparently in the US many cities use an equation to figure out how long the yellow/amber light should be. I found your video interesting and I’m surprised that the amber lights are the same for all speeds.

You’re right about changing the length of amber but as a lorry driver, who has longer braking to do, we have to anticipate more. Drivers should not slow down but ease off the accelerator and coast up to lights, especially if they have been green for a while and prepare to stop. That would eliminate a lot of reaction time. Then when you reach the point of no return back on the accelerator again. That’s what we had to show our examiners, that you are anticipating the lights potential to change. I even went through a red light on my test because I was too close to stop safely. Unfortunately red light cameras don’t have that human judgement element, which is why I agree we you, but you do have your day in court I suppose.

I always thought amber was a bit of a catch 22 when I was learning, still do in fact. In the end I just developed a crude but reliable rule of thumb to deal with it: if I saw I was in the marginal zone when a light swithched to amber, which for me is far enough away from the light that I probably could stop in an emergency but not far enough that it's obvious you'll be stopping, I would think to myself "should I stop?". If after thinking that thought I was still weighing up whether to stop then I would begin to stop, if after that thought I knew there wasn't enough space to stop I would still make it through the amber safely. This method was pretty reliable since I could get the car stopped at the very worst in the cycle area between the stop line and the advanced stop line, and most of the time I had space to spare before the ASL to bring the car to a smooth stop anyway. Also, to help gauge the marginal zone you can use the road markings to help you. On the ground there are usually arrows showing you which lane goes where (i.e. straight on, right turn only etc.) and they usually aren't put in at random; they are usually put in at set distances from the traffic lights to help gauge distance to the lights on the approach, and with that the space you have to slow the car down. If you are in between the stop line and the furthest ground arrow markings when it changes to amber you probably should continue, since if you are moving at a reasonable speed given the stated speed limit you are probably going too fast to get the car stopped safely before the stop line anyway. If the arrows are in between you and the stop line when it switches to amber that's when the rule of thumb comes into play. Please note that as the speed of the road increases the harder it gets to judge stopping distances and the like, as you'll have much less time to make your decision. This is when you need to understand the capabilities of your car as well as the capabilities of the vehicles around you. On a fast road the decision may well be made for you by the actions of the cars behind you, since if they don't attempt to stop they're expecting you to continue through the lights. If you try to stop at that point you are risking an accident, especially if the vehicle behind is larger than your car like a van, coach, or lorry.

In some countries the green starts to flash a while before the amber; I think that is a perfect solution as it means if that's flashing you can't go as you'll jump the lights.

Conquer Driving. Personally I would redesign the system slightly with traffic lights; I would take away the amber light altogether and replace it with a countdown display; this will stop drivers having to guess how long you have before the lights change.

And thise times are for cars, what your larger vehicles van lorry etc, will take them a lot longer.

Issue is, especially in cities, that there's a "pie" chart of available time at intersections. Road engineers HATE the amber as its "dead time" that cannot be used for any other purpose. Most junctions will complete their cycle in about 120 seconds or so. Assuming the simplest possible junction of North-South then East-West traffic, there's a minimum of 6 seconds dead amber time, or 5% of the total time. Not to mention all-red times where no one is moving, or time to allow pedestrians to finish crossing etc. As traffic volumes get higher and higher, the slices of the pie become more and more vital, and a traffic engineer explaining to the mayor that they have to lose 10% capacity through the city's most important junction to change the ambers from 3 seconds to 6 (or 3 seconds to 4 if it's a complex junction with many signal stages) just won't do. I totally agree with you that the pedestrian crossing on the 50mph dual carriageway wants a longer amber time and it will barely affect anyone. But even changing a 3s amber to 4s on a busy city junction with multiple signal stages and pedestrian crossings etc has the potential to reduce capacity a great deal. I think the clause you mention in the highway code of not stopping if it could cause an accident is mostly sufficient: oncoming directions of traffic only begin to get the red+amber light as soon as yours gets a red. They are supposed to wait for green to actually move. Even if you proceeded on amber, you should have cleared the junction by this point, especially at higher speeds. And of course a green light is only permission to proceed once clear, oncoming drivers need to ensure the junction is clear before moving off. The only true answer is a reduction of motor vehicle numbers, which we need anyway to improve safety in other ways than just this.

This what am looking for my exams next week I'm scared specially fom Amber light about the distance I need to stop...and roundabout

Changing how long amber lasts according to the speed limit of the road seems sensible. Meantime I would say that on higher speed roads, approaching a junction with lights IS a good reason to slow down if you're doing close to the speed limit. The problem you'll have is that drivers behind you will not be expecting this, and are often already going to be driving too close to you - but that goes for any case where you see a potential hazard up ahead that other drivers don't see or don't recognise as a hazard.

Great video once again. Have you, personally, ever ran a red light due to this issue, or do you always brake hard instead?

My instructors taught me to slow down if a light is green and I didn't see it turn green. This is what I did on my test and I passed. Very strange how exams seem to vary

I failed the test just for this error yesterday. I stopped on an amber behind the white line. The braking was not like an emergency stop but a slight harder in a way. The examiner said it was dangerous to stop if a vehicle is behind.. Now looking forward for my next test... I don't know whether they fail me next time for driving through an amber 😇

Great video as usual Richard. Have you heard the news of Colchester changing to being named a city officially post jubilee? Never heard of the place prior to your vids 😏

I would say the best way to approach traffic lights,If you’re on your test, and it’s a 30 road is when you get close the traffic lights slow down to 20 mph , you may get a minor for this, but at least you won’t have a major fault for going through a red light. And as long as you only slowed down as you got towards the traffic lights and weren’t driving at 20mph everywhere Then you should be fine. For everyone else who has already passed the test just slow down as you approach traffic lights.

In my country sometimes the speed limit gets lower before the junction with lights. Unfortunately this doesn't help a lot, because most drivers don't slow down. I had to go through amber and red light in a faster road without a speed limit sign a few times, so now I slow a little bit, even if it's green.

The solution I can offer is to try to anticipate it changing, it's normally quite easy to identify a "stale" green light. If you're approaching a stale light, you can let off the gas pedal a little bit to make it safer to apply the brakes if it does change. Try to identify a point of no return and say "commit" when you're committed to go, regardless of if it changes to amber.

I go off gas and hover over the brakes on approach. When I get to a certain point I go back on gas and keep going, even if it just changed to amber.

I would say the best way to approach traffic lights,If you’re on your test, and it’s a 30 road is when you get close the traffic lights slow down to 20 mph , 9:33 you may get a minor for this, but at least you won’t have a major fault for going through a red light. And as long as you only slowed down as you got towards the traffic lights and weren’t driving at 20mph everywhere Then you should be fine. For everyone else who has already passed the test just slow down as you approach traffic lights.

In my country we have flashing green before amber and sometimes timers. Timers are small but you don't need to see the exact number from long distances, 'til you recognize two numbers(means

On my first test i had no choice to go through a amber light,i had a minor for it. But ive always been taught that if you cant stop in time on the amber just speed up a little

I am with you

The simplest solution I can think of is for the traffic light sequence to change, introducing an additional sequence in the Green to Red. Green, Green Amber (New - for 3 seconds) Amber, Red - In the same vein that Red Amber means get ready to go, the Green Amber would be lights are going to change in a few seconds time and it will give road users more notice that lights are about to change.

Definietly agree, its so annoying when your going at high speeds and you gotta brake hard, i can feel my car crying 😭😭😭😭

I drive a large ford transit van down a 50mph stretch every day, and this exact situation is why I go no faster than 35mph. It annoys other drivers consistently - 35mph is far too slow for the road - but my vehicle is absolutely not capable of stopping from 50 in 3 seconds. So if I travel at the correct speed, it's completely up to chance whether I run the red, which is not worth the risk. Quite a ludicrous situation. Side note: I also know plenty of people who just speed up when they see the yellow just to get across the line.

The only problem with increasing the amount of time the amber light stays on will only encourage some people to accelerate to get through the lights before it turns red; even more so than some already do.

when i was taking lessons w/ AA (august-dec 2021) my instructor always said to slow down a little bit just in case they do turn amber on high speed roads and in general as well.

I wasn't aware of this being quite different in some other European countries! Very interesting. In Germany it's: • 50 kph and below: 3 seconds of amber (50 kph = 31 mph) • 60 kph: 4 seconds of amber (60 kph = 37 mph) • 70 kph: 5 seconds of amber (70 kph = 43.5 mph) And 70 kph (43.5 mph) is the max speed for there to be a set of traffic lights. Personally I think all of the above should have even one more second added. I cannot imagine how stressful it must be to potentially have to come to a stop within 3 seconds at a speed of 50 mph or even more.

I agree, had is today - did a hard stop but only because there was no one behind me. I could of gone through the Amber but deicided as it was only me it was not a big of dea.

In Ukraine we have the perfect solution for that I would say. Blinking green is coming before the amber and it really helps to analize whether you can pass or you should stop. And also timers next to the lights is badly requiered everywhere. Peace😊

I agree with you. Amber lights should be adjusted on high speed roads. No, I have never lost points off my license, either in a car or a truck. However as an English, as a foreign language, teacher I cringe when you say "free seconds" and "firty mph". Using F for the TH sound is not standard, just common in some places. Yes, I am being picky and I know that it is local to certain parts of the UK. It does confuse some people for whom English is a second language.

In India most of the traffic lights have a timer. It gives you a perfect idea when lights are going to change. These are visible from long distance and can help you plan accordingly

I've had this problem twice in my lessons - one where I was right to keep going, the other where my instructor said I should have stopped - but in the heat of the moment it seems silly to slam the breaks on that hard!

Very good explainition, could you tell us which city of the uk are you doing please?

I 100% agree on lengthening the amber in relation to speed. However, the calculations are a bit lacking. Yes, if you're 3 seconds away from a light then in 4 seconds you'll definitely be over the line *if you maintain speed* , however if you're braking then you're not constantly traveling at that initial speed anymore. Not saying it's not an issue, 3 seconds at 60mph sounds terrifying, but it does mean that the "if the light lasts x seconds and I need x+0.1 seconds to come to a stop then I'll overshoot" logic isn't entirely sound. In Germany we have the apparently common arrangement of (in km/h) 50 = 3s, 60 = 4s, 70 = 5s, it feels completely fine so maybe y'all should get on that bandwagon :). Especially at 70 it doesn't always maintain that feel of magically floating on the road and barely noticing you're in a car, but I would stray far from calling it uncomfortable, you just feel that you're wearing a seatbelt. What scares me way more here is the intersections we have on many country roads (Landstraßen), where for left turns off the main road there's almost always a center strip to slow down for safety reasons, however that thing is sometimes barely longer than the normal braking distance when going at 60mph and you're explicitly taught not to slow down before you're fully on it, so considering the space needed to switch lanes it can be quite a squeeze. This shouldn't be all that bad since you only need to slow down to 20ish mph to turn left, but there's almost always oncoming traffic so, at least in my limited experience, a decent chunk of our perfectly legally designed intersections will make you kiss your steering wheel

I don't usually have problems with this, but I have been driving for over 10 years... I usually get my learners to pick a "point of no return" so that they don't need to make a last second decision. If the light turns to amber before they reach the "point of no return" then they should stop, and they should continue if they have passed the "point of no return".

I see many folks beat me to it regarding the various forms of advanced warning in other countries that a traffic light is about to turn red. I can think of two more that I don't yet see mentioned: 1. In Canada, you can almost always tell when traffic lights are about to turn red from the state of the pedestrian lights on the cross street to the street you are on. When those pedestrian light start to flash the "Don't walk" signal it means that your traffic lights MAY be about to turn amber and then red. Notice I said "MAY" because in some cases, even after the pedestrian light turns to red Stop, your traffic lights might still remain green (which is safe). However, the reverse is NEVER true as that would be too dangerous. In other words, it's never the case that your lights would turn red even with the pedestrian lights on the cross street still showing a steady WALK signal. It's all a very good advanced warning of a light change. 2. In Canada, where there are traffic lights on a "high speed" road (around 80kph / 50 mph) or even on a 50kph / 30mph road where it's a dangerous intersection (bottom of a hill, round a bend etc) before the main traffic lights will be an advanced flashing light system with a big sign that reads "When lights flash, be prepared to stop". These advanced lights will start to flash BEFORE the main traffic lights several 100 metres further ahead even change to amber and then red. The advanced lights will continue to flash until the main lights turn to green again.

A good tip my instructor gave was to plan ahead. Look well ahead and if you see the traffic lights in the distance have been green for some time, you can assume that they may change by the time you reach them. So start slowing down just in case. That way if they turn amber before you get there, you can come to a smooth stop. And if they change just as you reach them, then keep going. Planning ahead can save your skin. Literally. Edit: oh and you only worry about pedestrian controlled traffic lights if there’s pedestrians waiting to cross. Otherwise they’ll stay green.

Worth noting that you actually have 6 seconds to stop if the light turns amber and you're 3 seconds away at your current speed, assuming you are slowing down at a constant rate (though this doesn't take into account reaction time). Doesn't change anything for the fast roads, but for 30 and 40 roads, 3 seconds is probably fine.

As there are many comments I don't know whether this has been mentioned. In Austria the sequence is green, then flashing green, then amber, then red. The flashing green is ~3-4 seconds, the amber phase the same. This gives something like 6-8 seconds warning of a red light.

second most scariest thing right after Emergency vehicles heading towards you at 100mph unexpectedly.

Hi thank you very much for providing best driving tips that usually people encounter Here I got a prblm actually I could here a engine noise (not a good noise) when the gear is in fifth (last gear) and even when I give the gas the noise increases but i don't see the movement of the car as per the acceleration .May be I am not good at clutch and acceleration (gas) For your information the car is in good condition and this thing happens to me in every car Hope you got this and I wish I could get the possible answer thank you🙂🙂

Hey Richard, Could u please make a video about driving at high speeds- being smooth and in control whilst at high speeds

Is it bad that I thought the flashing amber on pelican crossings were faulty traffic lights on my driving lesson the other day.