If you’ve ever been stuck at a traffic light for what feels like forever, you might have tried the “peaking out” technique: Incrementally move your car forward so that the traffic monitoring sensors register your car. When the sensors detect that your car is there, they speed up the light change, and then you’re off and about.
Or maybe you move your car forward a little so you can see the approaching traffic. That way, if you have to run a red light, you can do so when there is no traffic coming your way.
But according to Traffic Light Doctor (@trafficlightdoctor), this is a bad idea, and in a viral TikTok video that has been viewed more than 4.6 million times on the platform, the traffic light engineer explains why.
Sneak peek at traffic lights
He starts the video at a stop light, where a truck can be seen approaching the white line on the road, which indicates where to stop. “You shouldn’t do this on a red light. You can see his truck is too far ahead,” the TikTok user said.
They then point their camera at a screen monitoring traffic flow, where they see an analytical overlay of two grids, including a graph and a series of rectangular “boxes” showing the correct placement of vehicles. The traffic light doctor explains that the truck driver is “missing the zone.”
He continues, “So without that, he wouldn’t get the call on this controller, even if that zone actually picks him up, and he’s given the green light.”
Because the trucker is outside the zone, his location doesn’t register in the system — and not registering means he doesn’t get the early green light he’s counting on.
“Luckily for him, there is a car behind him that is parked in the zone,” the traffic light doctor says, pointing to the monitor, “so he gets the green light to go through this intersection.”
Others have confirmed this signal phenomenon
Similar to the Traffic Light Doctor video, this report by local news affiliate ABC 10 confirms that the “inches” approach is not effective. While some may believe in this approach, their experiences could be attributed to traffic monitoring systems not being properly calibrated.
A spokesperson for the Sacramento Department of Public Works interviewed by ABC echoed the traffic light doctor’s sentiments: “If you approach slowly, you could miss the green light entirely,” the spokesperson said.
Drivers are “better off stopping at the white line,” the media outlet wrote, and officials from the Department of Public Works agreed: “There’s no point in ‘nudging’; drivers should drive right up to the white line and into the detection zone,” they said.
But the news outlet said there is a way the “slow down” method could work: if “the driver stops well before the stop line and slowly drives into the detection zone where the coil is located.”
Mixed reactions on TikTok
Many people who responded to the traffic light doctor video seemed unable to understand why someone could cross the “stop” line in traffic.
One person said: “Imagine there’s a big white line you have to stop on.”
“I don’t understand why people ignore the line,” another agreed.
“I wish there was a boundary line to tell cars where to stop. Like a big bright white line. That’s a million dollar idea,” one user commented.
Another person responded to why they think some people employ this “creeper” method while driving: “Because some people think the light is a sensor so the closer they get the faster they’ll turn.”
One TikTok user from another country shared the solution they use: “In Germany, traffic lights have a forced cycle feature for situations like this.”
@trafficlightdoctor What not to do on a red light! #trafficlightdoctor #fyp ♬ Original Sound – 🚦 Traffic Light Doctor 🚦
Others mentioned various theories they’d heard about prompting the change in traffic lights: “Is it true that flashing lights make the lights go faster, like an emergency vehicle,” one person asked.
Another shared his concern as a motorbike driver: “Teach me how to make myself aware of red lights when I’m riding my motorbike,” they pleaded.
The Daily Dot reached out to Traffic Light Doctor through the TikTok comments for more information.
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