{"id":336181,"date":"2026-09-02T18:26:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/336181\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T18:26:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T18:26:26","slug":"cities-in-the-us-testing-faster-green-lights-for-good-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/336181\/","title":{"rendered":"Cities In The US Testing Faster Green Lights For Good Drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who drives down Genesee Street in Utica <\/a>knows…there are a lot of lights. And with that comes a lot of time waiting for the green light.<\/p>\n

What if that traffic light changed because it knew you weren’t speeding? It’s actually a thing in other cities in the country.<\/p>\n

Sounds like a dream come true for good drivers and a nightmare for speeders.<\/p>\n

\"NN RotteveelN Rotteveel<\/p>\n

Rest In Red Concept<\/p>\n

Imagine driving down an empty street, and instead of hitting a wall of red lights, the signals actually reward you for obeying the speed limit.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 8\u00a0Face Felony Charges Following Onondaga County Online Sting<\/a><\/p>\n

That is the reality in cities like Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Portland, Oregon, where a new traffic strategy called “rest in red<\/a>” is flipping the script on speed enforcement.<\/p>\n

These behavioral traffic <\/a>signals stay red until a vehicle approaches. Automated sensors continuously track your speed: if you are cruising at or below the limit, the light turns green before you even need to brake, rewarding you with a smooth ride.<\/p>\n

\"WIBX<\/p>\n

If you are speeding, the light stays stubbornly red, forcing a complete stop. Portland officials have dubbed it a “virtual <\/a>speed bump,” and early data proves it works. <\/p>\n

On one busy test corridor, the system successfully dropped average speeds from 39 mph down to the legal 30 mph limit.<\/p>\n

\"TracyTracy FoxTracy Fox<\/p>\n

How Do They Handle Emergencies<\/p>\n

For those worried about first responders, the tech is completely foolproof. Ambulances and fire trucks use standard Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) transmitters to instantly override the system.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: How To Prepare For Severe Weather In Central New York<\/a><\/p>\n

The intersection drops its speed-monitoring protocol, turning the light green for the emergency vehicle while holding cross-traffic safely at a red.<\/p>\n

What Do Insurance Companies Think?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though major auto insurers have yet to publish formal position statements on the pilots, this technology aligns perfectly with their overarching “Safe System Approach.” <\/p>\n

Insurers strongly prefer infrastructure designs that passively prevent drivers from making fatal errors.<\/p>\n

By physically forcing speed compliance without issuing controversial financial fines, “rest in red” lights bypass the usual political backlash associated with automated speed cameras all while targeting the high-speed intersection crashes notorious for causing severe injuries.<\/p>\n

New York Businesses That Closed in 2026<\/p>\n

Take a look at the New York businesses that have closed in 2026.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Credit – Polly McAdams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone who drives down Genesee Street in Utica knows…there are a lot of lights. And with that comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50,12],"class_list":["post-336181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}