Traffic Signals: Yellow or Black?

[BigMattFromTexas]

A couple of years ago the City of San Angelo painted all the yellow stoplights and the frame thingy black, is there any specific reason the they would do this? Whats your opinion on yellow or black stoplights?
BigMatt

[Bryant5493]

Well, black signals help to make the red, yellow and green lights be seen better. LEDs in yellow signals look weird. The City of Atlanta does this for some of their newer signal, install LED lights in small yellow housings. GDOT, conversely, installs black signals with LEDs.


Be well,

Bryant

[leifvanderwall]

I think the color black is used also , especially in Florida, so the sun does not fade the color of the signal frame like yellow would.

[Duke87]

Aw, no love for old dark green?

Y'know, as a kid, pretty much every traffic light around was yellow. An awful lot of them still are. So I associate yellow with them most. Not too many black ones, and I always find them weird when I see them. Seems strange, although practically speaking, it makes sense.
In the late 90's when the city of Stamford went around replacing a lot of its old bulb signals with new LED ones, the new heads were yellow with black visors. Although, whatever paint they used wasn't very good. Now, 10+ years later, the paint on a lot of those signals is chipped and flaked away like crazy. Meanwhile the yellow paint from the considerably older signals that are still around is actually in much better condition. Go figure.

[Bryant5493]

^^ Only place I've seen green signals, I think, is in New Orleans.


Be well,

Bryant

[Ian]

I am a man for black and dark green signals mostly because I live in an area where yellow signals are everywhere. Signals seem to be green more in the northeast (mostly New York State) and in places in the southwest. Louisiana also loves green signals. I always also liked combo colored lights. Especially in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine where there are signals that have black faces with yellow visors and backs...


Oh BTW Matt, the black frame thingys are known as "backplates".
Ian

[deathtopumpkins]

^^ Only place I've seen green signals, I think, is in New Orleans.

The city of Newport News used green ones for a while. Most on Oyster Point Road at the west end of VA-171 are green, along with a few others, though I believe some are being/have been repainted to black.

Our standard in Hampton is either wires or metal mast arms with yellow signals. In fact they just installed a new such assembly down the street from me last week.

[jdb1234]

The city of Birmingham just recently went to using black traffic signals.

[UptownRoadGeek]

Green! That seems to be the rule in my area, though they've started switching to dark green and black.  The black ones look out of place in my opinion.  I've noticed that black ones are starting to pop up in Houston and I see yellow ones in Baton Rouge (any color other than green just seem strange in LA).

[Scott5114]

Oklahoma City uses yellow signals with a black backplate. Norman uses all black. Personally, I like the way both look.

[Hellfighter]

In Michigan, all new Traffic Signals are using Yellow Backplate with the LED's. The only place that's diffrent is up in Traverse City, where all new LED Signals are using Black Backplates.

[Alex]

I like all three colors, yellow, black, green, though its hard to pick a preference, because as Ian said, its dependent upon what you see everyday. In Florida, all of the signals are black, so when I see an all-yellow signal, its a nice change. When I head to Louisiana, I appreciate the all green signals, because they are not what I am used to. What I don't like, are the "bee-lights", such as what Delaware uses with a yellow back and black front.

FWIW, in California I have seen all brown signals, all purple signals, and even signals painted white (in El Cajon). I believe D.C. uses all gray signals too.

[florida]

The yellower, the older....at least down here.

[Ian]

I like all three colors, yellow, black, green, though its hard to pick a preference, because as Ian said, its dependent upon what you see everyday. In Florida, all of the signals are black, so when I see an all-yellow signal, its a nice change. When I head to Louisiana, I appreciate the all green signals, because they are not what I am used to. What I don't like, are the "bee-lights", such as what Delaware uses with a yellow back and black front.

FWIW, in California I have seen all brown signals, all purple signals, and even signals painted white (in El Cajon). I believe D.C. uses all gray signals too.

lol, white signals. Where are the purple ones though Alex? Grey signals are located in DC, but newer signals (at least near the Jefferson Memorial) are becoming all black. In Daly City, CA, I saw signals with black faces and visors with blue backs. I have also seen brown signals too. There are some scattered around the Adirondack Park that are that color...


The signals in the Boston area have all gray signals aswell.

In Michigan, all new Traffic Signals are using Yellow Backplate with the LED's. The only place that's diffrent is up in Traverse City, where all new LED Signals are using Black Backplates.

Yellow backplates? Is Michigan going Canada style?

[getemngo]

Hmmm.  I like green, just because I never get to see it and it looks kind of "trafficky" (like guide signs).  Otherwise, all yellow is fine with me...it stands out enough.  Burton Street in Grand Rapids, MI has some all yellow signals with black backplates that I like.  (In my experience, backplates are very rare in Michigan.)

Lansing has quite a few signals with black faces and visors but yellow backs, similar to Delaware.  What's horrible is that you can see just a little bit of yellow from the front.  Ugh.

In Michigan, all new Traffic Signals are using Yellow Backplate with the LED's. The only place that's diffrent is up in Traverse City, where all new LED Signals are using Black Backplates.

Backplates?  When did we start getting backplates?

[Ian]

Hmmm.  I like green, just because I never get to see it and it looks kind of "trafficky" (like guide signs).  Otherwise, all yellow is fine with me...it stands out enough.  Burton Street in Grand Rapids, MI has some all yellow signals with black backplates that I like.  (In my experience, backplates are very rare in Michigan.)

Lansing has quite a few signals with black faces and visors but yellow backs, similar to Delaware.  What's horrible is that you can see just a little bit of yellow from the front.  Ugh.

In Michigan, all new Traffic Signals are using Yellow Backplate with the LED's. The only place that's diffrent is up in Traverse City, where all new LED Signals are using Black Backplates.

Backplates?  When did we start getting backplates?

Well there are many places in Michigan where backplates are used, at least that I've seen in pics. Its Delaware where backplates are very rare.

[getemngo]

Well there are many places in Michigan where backplates are used, at least that I've seen in pics. Its Delaware whre backplates are very rare.

Maybe it has to do with where I live and where I travel.  Most of my experience is with Grand Rapids, Lansing, and the Upper Peninsula.  Yes I have seen backplates occasionally in Michigan, but never on a brand new signal.  Can you give me some examples of these yellow backplates, Hellfighter or someone else?

[Ian]

Well there are many places in Michigan where backplates are used, at least that I've seen in pics. Its Delaware whre backplates are very rare.

Maybe it has to do with where I live and where I travel.  Most of my experience is with Grand Rapids, Lansing, and the Upper Peninsula.  Yes I have seen backplates occasionally in Michigan, but never on a brand new signal.  Can you give me some examples of these yellow backplates, Hellfighter or someone else?

[Hellfighter]

Okay, to clear up some confusion, I meant the signal housings and not backplates.

Here's an example of the yellow LED housing...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.436238,-83.512487&spn=0.005036,0.027874&z=16&layer=c&cbll=42.436235,-83.512497&panoid=-DbTXB2D5eFRuUR7C-P3Ug&cbp=11,352.72,,0,-4.21

...and here's an example of the black housing...
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.715194,-85.595233&spn=0.004849,0.027874&z=16&layer=c&cbll=44.715186,-85.595227&panoid=_08AEIE6i4m1D5dDVJaJMw&cbp=11,279.64,,0,-14.12

[Revive 755]

St. Louis City used to have a few signals with blue housing.

[roadfro]

Nevada has used either dark green or black signal housings with similarly-colored backplates as long as I can remember.  Older signals tend to be dark green with newer installations using black or very dark green.  I can only recall seeing one set of signal housings painted yellow when I was less than 10 years old--I'm 26 now.  That particular case (an older installation at Maryland Pkwy and Katie Ave in Las Vegas, near the Boulevard Mall) had only two signal heads per direction with no left turn signals, and the entire signal pole and mast arm was also painted yellow--it's long since been replaced with a standard installation.

I am not a fan of yellow signal housings. Having grown up in a state where they aren't used, they just don't look right to me.  However, the do look okay in pictures of older signals, especially the old four-way heads you see in the east.  One combination I've seen in pictures is yellow housing with black backplates, which doesn't look too bad.  Another one, which is a very good idea when a jurisdiction uses yellow signal housings, is to paint the inside of the signal visors black--which is apparently an MUTCD standard for all housings.


Going back to the question posed by the OP:

I've read about some studies regarding target value of signal heads (note that I haven't read the actual studies and can't point to them offhand).  The research seems to indicate that the light coming from the signal indications is more easily perceived from darker colored housings.  Against a sunny daytime sky, overhead signal faces painted yellow are not as easily seen from a distance.  Such research may have prompted San Angelo to repaint the signals, possibly in conjunction with requests/complaints from citizens or law enforcement.

For the driver, the target value of the signal head further increases when backplates are used.  Based on such data, I believe current practitioners recommend dark housings and backplates for new signal installations.  The MUTCD recommends in a guidance statement that backplates be used when viewed against a bright sky (which is probably why they are used at nearly every signal in Nevada).  The new MUTCD is proposed to allow a yellow retroreflective strip around the edges of the backplate where needed to further enhance the target value of the signal head.

[burgess87]

Yellow housing with black backplate = my personal preference.  However, I see next to none of that up here in WNY.

[Stephane Dumas]

In Quebec, it depends from the areas, some use a yellow housing while others use a black housing. I spotted a video of a Quebec traffic light in Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU0L8gBHzas

[Hellfighter]

I spoke too soon...

Yellow Backplates and black signal housings

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.328763,-83.044214&spn=0.000656,0.003484&z=19&layer=c&cbll=42.328845,-83.044513&panoid=sEw3bFL-Y5d7vsspSky4XQ&cbp=11,346.88,,0,-5.18

Yellow housings and black blackplates

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.330919,-83.039708&spn=0.000656,0.003484&z=19&layer=c&cbll=42.330918,-83.039707&panoid=zyvQcFsc18WiMjCIZ315uA&cbp=11,317.89,,0,-13.01

Yellow housings and blackplates

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.328373,-83.044281&spn=0.000656,0.003484&z=19&layer=c&cbll=42.328182,-83.045359&panoid=o0CHT-KmRriDBth1yRcIjw&cbp=11,72.78,,0,-23.96

Black housings and blackplates

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.330671,-83.039472&spn=0.000656,0.003484&z=19&layer=c&cbll=42.330671,-83.039472&panoid=yJkCwBzoyOlZRsXa1BckAg&cbp=11,86.45,,0,-7.54

[Ian]

Jut to be clear, the housings are the backs of the signals, not the whole thing. The face of it is known as the doors, and the visors are of course, visors. So, you could just say the color and the word "signal" not "housing".

Yellow backplates used to be a Canadian only thing not too long ago. Now the United States have followed with them by putting them on where they could be needed. I don't think I have ever seen black backplates in Canada.