Traffic Sign & Signal Accident Reconstruction Experts

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Traffic Sign & Signal Accident
Reconstruction Expert

Providing Quality Accident Reconstruction and Investigation

Each year, red light runners cause as
many as 218,000 traffic collisions.
- Algonquin, Illinois Police Department

When drivers are confronted with a phasing traffic
signal, they are faced with an emergent
situation requiring an immediate response.

Drivers have to process a yellow signal’s meaning
(a red signal will soon be displayed), assess the
distance and time necessary to cross the
intersection, and make an appropriate response
(slow to a stop or continue through the
intersection).

The longer a yellow signal is displayed, the longer a
driver has to react appropriately.

Accident reconstruction often involves the assessment of traffic sign configuration and traffic signal
timing.

Accident reconstructionists refer to the changing of a traffic signal as phasing. The timing of these
phases are generally determined by traffic density, intersection size, and/or pedestrian traffic.

The length of each phase, including yellow periods, can differ from intersection to intersection. In some
cases, a yellow light can last as long as 5 seconds, but elsewhere the length of the yellow period may
be as little as 3 seconds.

While the length of a yellow traffic signal might not seem important, accident reconstruction experts
now know that an increase in a traffic signal's yellow period can significantly reduce the number of
signal violations and angled (t-bone) crashes at a given intersection.

The size, shape, and placement of traffic signs is regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Manual on Uniform Traffic
Control Devices (MUTCD). To read the MUTCD, please click here.

States, such as Illinois, have adopted additional requirements for the installation an maintenance of traffic signs. To read Illinois'
supplement, please click here.

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Disclaimer: Crash Data Services, LLC and crashdataservices.net provide the information in this web site for informational purposes only. The information is not intended to
be legal advice or an expert opinion and should not be construed as such. The use of this site does not create a contractor/client relationship with any employee of Crash
Data Services, LLC. Each investigation is different. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. The results of any investigation/reconstruction do not
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