TikTok stunned by little-known traffic light trigger
Driving in Sydney can be agony for even the most patient motorist.
So, it shouldn’t come as a shock that one man has voiced, or rather sung, his frustrations about a little-known traffic light rule.
Musical comedian Benny Davis posted a music video on TikTok which he calls “A little PSA about a very specific cause of my road rage”.
“Hey Sydney drivers, do you know what these things are?” he sings.
“They’re the sensors that detect the weight of your car.
“And when you stop on them that’s how the lights know… To change from red to green and let the cars go.”
Davis goes on to sing it’s a constant cause of his frustration – people not stopping at the solid white line and activating the sensors to trigger the traffic lights.
What is he singing about?
He is, of course, referring to the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS).
To put it simply, the system involves sensors under the road which detect vehicles. You have probably seen them before – they look like someone has scratched lines into the road.
‘No one has common sense’: Frustration over ignored road rule
‘This hurts my head’: Confusion over road rules quiz question
Once detected, this sends a signal to the traffic lights.
In a way, it’s like the car is doing what a person does at a pedestrian crossing when they press a button to walk across the street. Without pressing the button to let the traffic light know they are there, it will not signal the light to allow them to cross.
'I actually had no idea'
On TikTok, some people added it also causes them headaches.
“I’m so glad someone has pointed this out. Why do people do this?” one woman wrote.
Another woman wrote she did “not understand the logic” of why people stop so far behind the white line while one man wrote it “p*****” him off “to no end”.
Others added the system was news to them, including a woman who wrote she’s been driving for 10 years and had no clue.
“Just figured they were timed,” she wrote.
Another woman wrote she only learned about it because of Davis’s song.
“I actually had no idea,” another woman wrote.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
