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February 29, 2020 05:34 pm

Oregon Engineer Proved Right About Traffic Lights

"Mats Järlström's emotions were clearly visible Friday morning. After years of arguing red light traffic cameras are flawed, the official Journal of the Institute of Transportation Engineers said he was right," reports a local news station in Portland, Oregon:The ITE sets traffic policy recommendations for the United States — and they said cities should be using his formula. "It is a big deal," Järlström told KOIN 6 News. "It's the top." Six years ago he tried to tell the Beaverton City Council there's a problem with its red light cameras. Then there was the State of Oregon, which fined him for practicing engineering without a license. He had to file a federal lawsuit to continue his research to prove drivers making turns at intersections often get caught in a dilemma when they're slowing down to make a turn and the yellow light isn't long enough. Järlström said he used 8th-grade math skills to prove drivers have been getting tickets they can't avoid. "It didn't take an engineering license to realize that the formula for traffic light timing was flawed," Järlström says on the Institute for Justice site. "I'm just glad that the ITE and the professional engineering community were willing to listen to an outsider, consider my work, and finally update their formula." "The First Amendment protects Americans' right to speak regardless of whether they are right or wrong," said the Institute for Justice attorney who represented Järlström. "But in Mats's case, the ITE committee's decision suggests that he not only has a right to speak, but also, that he was right all along." The ITE's vote updates a 55-year-old equation, the site reports. Järlström added, "We will never know how many Americans have received red light tickets for making perfectly safe right-hand turns."

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