Damjan Stankovic of relogik has come up with an innovative red light indication called the Eko. It is a type of countdown red light for traffic signals (we already have numerical countdown indications for pedestrian lights). The bars circling the light go dark as the wait at the red light gets shorter.
The Eko could have two benefits –
(1) Less Stress – Drivers would see that they are getting closer to a green light. It's the same concept used by computers with the spinning hour glass when you are opening a file or program.
(2) Environmentally Friendly – There are some folks out there who turn off their engine at a red light to save gas. The Eko would let those people know when to turn their car back on. Maybe this would encourage more people to use this gas saving/pollution reducing technique.