Stop lights or traffic lights have become a normal fixture in everyday life. However, have you ever considered how large a stop light has to be to capture the attention of motorists on busy roads? A stop light might look tiny because the visual angle decreases the farther away you are from it.
The standard stoplight falls into 8-inch and 12-inch patterns, measuring 9.5 × 30 × 6 inches and 13.5 × 42 × 8 inches, respectively. It will typically hang 18 feet above the surface of the road.
That said, there is still more we can learn about stoplight sizes. For instance, how wide are the lenses and why are some stop lights larger than others? I’ll answer these questions and more in the following sections.
Stop Light Diameter and Measurements
As previously stated, a stop light will fall into one of two size categories—8 inches and 12 inches. The size categories refer to the size of the lens or the signal lights that motorists and pedestrians see.
An 8-inch traffic light will contain three lenses, each of which measures 8 inches in diameter. The housing that holds the three lenses will measure 9.5 inches wide, 30 inches tall, and 6 inches deep.
A 12-inch traffic light has lenses or lights that are each 12 inches in diameter. The housing must be larger to accommodate the larger lenses or light bulbs. So, its housing measures 13.5 inches wide, 42 inches tall, and 8 inches deep.
Both 8-inch and 12-inch stop light variants are used all over the world. So, how do you know whether you’re looking at one or the other?
Factors that Affect Stop Light Size
There are three dominating factors that will determine whether an intersection uses 8-inch or 12-inch traffic lights. Those factors are traffic conditions, places, and laws.
Traffic Conditions—high-traffic areas in a city, state, or country require larger (12-inch) lights for better visibility. Conversely, places with minimal traffic and are not prone to jams during peak travel hours will usually have 8-inch traffic lights.
Place—there are certain cities in the United States that stick to 12-inch traffic lights exclusively. This is due to the fact that they are highly populated and traffic is always a problem, so local governments require larger-sized traffic lights for better visibility. In places like the UK, you will mostly find 8-inch traffic lights, even though some places may be jam-packed all day.
Laws—every state can set traffic rules and regulations, which means that you may find one particular size at every intersection. So, if the traffic laws mandate 12-inch stop lights, you would have no choice but to install 12-inch stop lights. Traffic laws also extend to the height at which stop lights are mounted above the road.
Lens Count—if you’ve traveled through your city, you might have found stoplights with just two lenses (red and green), while others have four lenses (red, yellow, green, and colored arrows). The number of lights will ultimately affect how large the stop light is.
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