Mini-Ethnography of Traffic Lights

Traffic lights are a taken-for-granted part of urban life. The colours change from green to yellow to red, sometimes there are arrows and sometimes they flash, and there is a man and a hand sign that alternate back and forth. Somehow, from these little balls of light, (almost) everyone knows how to proceed in order to cross the intersection safely and to avoid accidents. This is the infrastructure that I will be analysing using Star's (1999) analytical framework.

Embeddedness: Traffic lights are usually attached to posts, and are often up in the air. Consequently they are not at eye level and are only seen if you are facing them head on from a distance back. When you are directly underneath one, you are generally un-aware of it being there. We also see them as isolated groupings, never pausing to think how they are connected to a larger network of traffic lights across the city that are changing in a pre-determined sequence.

Transparency: Traffic lights are easy to use. When you are a child you learn the basic colours and symbols and from then on, even if the type of light, or the design of the symbol changes, you still know that red means stop and green means go.

 Reach/ scope:  Traffic lights have a very large reach - literally across the world. Their importance in terms of public safety make it so that the colours and symbols are globally accepted and used. Even when variations are used (such as colours for walking instead of symbols or the colour blue instead of green), the signs are still transparent to use and can be globally read.

Learned as part of membership: As stated above, most children learn how to read traffic lights before letters. If someone were unfamiliar with the use of traffic lights, they would quickly learn by observing others and by the dangers presented by not understanding them.

Links with conventions of practice: Traffic lights follow conventions of practice. The need to regulate traffic flow is dependent on the amount of traffic which flows through an intersection. This determines the length of the light in each direction and if it changes during higher traffic times (advanced turn-arrows during rush hour).

Embodiment of standards: Traffic lights are controlled by the standards of the roads and sidewalks. They must be adjusted to accommodate changes in the infrastructure that they support.

Built on an installed base: Traffic lights are generally on street corners at the top of poles. When new light sources or controls are installed, they must take this placement into consideration.

Becomes visible upon breakdown: When a traffic light stops working, it can create havoc. With vehicles and pedestrians fighting for right-of-way, the situation can turn quickly to dead-lock or accidents.

Is fixed in modular increments, not all at once or globally: Traffic lights are generally controlled by the city or town which they are in. There are no global or even national bodies that ensure their proper function. When one traffic light breaks down independently, it is fixed independently. When one street is repaired, sometimes the traffic lights will be updated along with it but this is not always the case.