Traffic lights across the country will be upgraded with a fourth mode supplementing the existing three modes of red, green, and orange, said Mehdi Yadi Hamedani, director general of Supreme Council for Coordination of Cities Traffic.
“It was decided at the first council session in the current calendar year (started March 21) that the orange light will also turn on during the last three seconds before the red light goes off to alert drivers and pedestrians,” he said, quoted by ISNA.
Based on the new protocol, in addition to the traditional red, green, and orange modes, a fourth, both red and orange mode will be set simultaneously for three seconds before the green light goes on.
The system exists in a number of European and some Asian countries, providing drivers with leverage to anticipate the traffic signals.
The regulation of traffic lights was scrutinized at the session and a number of ambiguities were addressed and rectified.
Iran officially ratified the Convention on Road Traffic (commonly known as the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic) in 1975 and must abide by its standard traffic rules. The convention is an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety. It came into force on May 21, 1977 and has been ratified by 73 countries.
“Certain areas were vague and at times disharmony between municipalities and the traffic police caused public inconvenience; therefore, protocols regarding traffic lights were examined and incorporated in 42 articles during the session between the Supreme Council for Coordination of Cities Traffic and municipalities, traffic police, the Iranian National Standards Organization, and other pertinent bodies,” Hamedani said, adding that other reforms to enhance performance of traffic lights were also discussed at the meeting.
Vehicles in the service of municipalities such as firefighter trucks, hearses, and garbage trucks will be given state license plates instead of the private plates currently assigned to them.
