about 1/2 mile. To accomplish this, an overhead red/green traffic light is visible above each lane, several hundred feet beyond the toll plaza. Green is illuminated for two seconds, signalling the first driver in that lane to begin acceleration. Then the signal jumps to red for eight seconds. Using this method, there are always five lanes with a "green" signal, staggered throughout the 25 lanes of traffic. Timers at signals Traffic lights are sometimes accompanied by timers that indicate how much longer a certain phase will last. This is especially common for pedestrian crossing lights in high-traffic areas. Timers have been extensively used in Russia, India, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic but in Vietnam, they are rarely used for pedestrians. The major disadvantage with this, is that timers can only be used when the traffic lights are under fixed-time operation, reducing flexibility. This is because it's otherwise impossible to know exactly how long the light will be green or red for. In Canada and the US, most pedestrian signals now have countdown timers in the flashing hand symbol/"Don't Walk" phase. All new installations of pedestrian signals in the US must include a countdown timer, unless the countdown timer is less than seven seconds long, per the 2009 MUTCD. In New York City, however, this is not the case, as only streets that are wide enough will get countdown timers, regardless of the length of the countdown. Countdown pedestrian signals are also used in London, England. In some cities (such as Newberg, Oregon; Kyiv, Ukraine; and Kraków, Poland) there are signs displaying how fast one has to drive in order to reach the next intersection at the exact time when the light turns green, thus allowing the driver to ease into a green wave. See also Traffic light Traffic light control and coordination References External links Left-turn Signal Display Animation Page adapted from Evaluation of Traffic Signal Displays for Protected/Permitted Left-Turn Control (Report 493, 2003) by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Pedestrian crossing components Traffic law Traffic signals