Mats Järlström
Oregon Engineer Makes History with New Traffic Light Timing Formula
Quick summary: when someone is making a right-turn, and the light has changed to yellow, they do not have sufficient time to finish their turn before the light turns red. Therefore, at lights with red-light cameras, many people who could not possibly stop in time are getting tickets. (The point is that the fact that cars turning have to slow down must be taken into account when calculating how long it takes to traverse the intersection. If you are going at close to the speed limit, you get through while yellow, but if you have slowed down because you plan to turn, and the yellow occurs too late for you to stop, you will be long enough in the intersection to get a ticket).
Mr Jarlstrom made many efforts to point this out to the Beaverton (OR) city council. Not only did the officials treat him with disdain, the state even fined him for practising engineering without a license. (Talk about shoot the messenger!)
However, it turns out he was right, and he has been vindicated in an article in the Journal of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
Related reading:
Oregon Engineer Makes History with New Traffic Light Timing Formula
