Normally after the pedestrian countdown is finished the light turns yellow, then red for traffic moving in the same direction. Traffic in the perpendicular dire

Normally after the pedestrian countdown is finished the light turns yellow, then red for traffic moving in the same direction. Traffic in the perpendicular direction then gets a green light making it unsafe for pedestrians to cross. The issue is that vehicles moving in the same direction as the pedestrians can also see the pedestrian countdown and can use that information to determine approximately how much longer their own vehicle light will remain green. The article suggests that that different drivers interpret the countdown information differently than the green/yellow/red lights and more specifically, and unlike the colored lights, different drivers interpret the countdown timer differently (some see 3 seconds and speed up, others see 3 seconds and slow down).