Anything that changes needs adaption by its users, especially for frequently used (hence nearby in this case) mechanisms. There will be accidents in the short t

Anything that changes needs adaption by its users, especially for frequently used (hence nearby in this case) mechanisms. There will be accidents in the short term but I'm pretty convinced in the medium to long run, things will get safer because you don't tend to shortcut/bypass a well optimized system as much as a dumb system. For example when it is red at night and you see noone is coming from other directions, you might get tempted to break the rules. Similarly, in my home town quite a few people got killed in their cars by a train because of the long 'no train passes while red' time. In the end they solved the problem the opportunistic/expensive way: build 3 very expensive bridges. It would have made more sense to make the signal control electronics a bit smarter instead.