White Flashes from Red Lights (Leesburg: cars, to work, driving)

[fried10]

When driving to work in the morning westbound on the Leesburg Pike, I've noticed flashing white lights, almost strobe-like or rapid camera flashes, in some of the red stop lights, bisecting them like a cat's eye.

Does anyone have any idea what this is?

[pcity]

It's just to alert people. They're usually put up if there's some sort of visibility problem, like a hill as you come to the intersection, or other obstacles in the way.

A lot of people think they're cameras, but red-light cameras are actually mounted elsewhere on the light.

[Caladium]

Gee, I heard it's all part of a hypnosis program to stop people from texting while driving. The white flashes are accompanied by subliminal audio messages: "Don't text! Do-o-o-n't text!"

[Legs1357]

They're also visible from the back right? They let cops know exactly when the light turns (and hence if people are running them) if they're sitting in the opposite direction of the light.

[EricD]

They're usually put on lights where there is a history of people running the light.

I know of one traffic light where there was multiple traffic accidents from people just not seeing the red light, and they would hit cars as they crossed the intersection. After they installed those flashing lights, they didn't have any more problems at all.