Opinion: Drivers, if you do this at a green light – please stop

Among the many things that grind my gears about people's driving abilities is when other motorists fail to move off as soon as the traffic light turns green. 

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I've split these people into two categories: the slow reactors, people who simply do not care and are not in a hurry, and the distractors, people fiddling around in their car or texting.

While the distractors are still annoying because they're doing something illegal at least they're most likely going to be attentive after they get beeped. The people with slow reaction times are the worst.

They're the same people who get to the front of the airport security line and haven't yet taken their belt off, or their laptop out of their bag. Or the people who get to the front of the coffee shop queue and wait until then to decide what they're ordering.

I think perhaps most people would agree with me that it gets particularly frustrating when you are sitting at a set of traffic lights that you drive through every day. You know exactly how long the green light is triggered and when it will let you go, and yet, multiple cars up ahead, there is someone just sitting there and doing nothing. 

Exacerbating these frustrations is the fact that traffic is at an all-time high in Australia. According to the 2023 data from the TomTom Traffic Index, Melbourne residents are losing 92 hours a year in peak hour traffic, Sydney-siders are losing 83 hours and Adelaide drivers are losing 72 hours.

Just because you're not in a hurry does not mean that others are not. That extra two seconds it takes for you to take off from the lights will cause a flow-on effect which could mean that a car or two behind you won't make it through.

The problem with the slow reactors is that they aren't going to do this once, they'll do it at every single traffic light they come across and they probably have since they passed their driving test.

While a slow reaction time might not have been an issue 20 or so years ago, the number of cars on the road is ever-expanding and local governments cannot keep up with supplying the roads we desperately need.

Something that has resonated with me since I got my licence was a video I saw many years ago. It explained the fundamentals of traffic flow, why we have congestion, and the simple solution to end delays.

The video explained that if everyone accelerated at the exact same time, more cars would make it through the traffic lights. Cars are not the problem; coordination is. 

Like many theories, this one has a flaw: If everyone accelerated simultaneously, there would be no gaps between cars, thus creating an unsafe following distance. But the core theory is that if you react faster, you will let more cars through, and there will be no flow-on effect. 

This idea of free and simultaneously flowing traffic is why trains, trams, and autonomous cars work so well in theory: They don't have to deal with the inconsistencies of other people's decision-making. 

There is no specific law to stop people from being stopped for too long at a green light, which is frustrating. However, there are fines it could technically fall under, which include 'obstructing traffic' under the 1998 Offences Act, which carries four penalty points, and possibly even reckless/dangerous driving if you're doing it with ill intent, which carries a court-appointed fine. 

I also feel as if I have to bring up another issue with leaving the traffic lights as soon as they turn green: people speeding up to an orange that suddenly turns red, and next thing you know, you're getting T-boned, right?

Well, not really; there is enough delay between one light going red and the other going green that you will miss a car speeding up for an orange light. The standard is three seconds between one light going red and the other going green, which is more than enough for someone who has sped up for an orange to either slow when it goes red or get through the intersection before the others go green. 

You are taught, or at least I was, to look both directions before leaving an intersection even if there are traffic lights. This only takes a split second to do and should not impede traffic behind you.

However, people not running red lights is the same fictitious world where people pay attention to green traffic lights. Alas, we live in a world where seemingly 50 per cent of the drivers on the road have found their licence in a cereal box and are completely oblivious to other road users. 

I tend to keep an eye out for the opposing traffic lights and see when they are triggered to go red so I can prepare for the green light I will be getting soon. Because why wouldn't you want to get off from the lights as soon as possible?

There are laws (distracted driving) that prevent you from doing anything other than watching the lights while stopped, so there is absolutely no reason you should be sitting there, at the green light, not moving. The light isn't getting any greener. 

Honestly, one of the best things I've seen in recent years is the green light charm in some Teslas, but it's outrageous to me that people need something like that in their car to be attentive.

I believe mobile phones are the main issue and I think there should be phone detection cameras at ALL traffic lights because it's just plain annoying to sit there waiting for someone to finish their text message before leaving the lights. 

Just be courteous to the people behind you; it's not that hard.

So what do you think? In your experience, are drivers generally too slow to get moving when the traffic light turns green? Let us know in the comments below.