The Four-Second Crossing: How Traffic Lights Actually Work

When a pedestrian crossing near Jerusalem gives you only four seconds to cross twelve meters of highway, it's not a computer error — it's a maintenance backlog with a street address. In this episode, we unpack the hidden architecture of traffic lights: the $200 conflict monitor that cannot be overridden by any software bug, the three-tier safety stack that prevents catastrophic failures, and why the most dangerous failures aren't software glitches at all. From SCADA systems to coordination protocols, we trace how operational technology keeps intersections safe — and where the system breaks down.