1) Our indecision is telling us that our fuzzy logic processors (our brains) say it's a close call or there's too much uncertainty to tell.
So if we trust our gut instinct and experience and decide instinctively on a case-by-case basis, then on average we've probably optimized it.
But it just hurts so much to slam on the brakes right after a burn that I usually just coast and enjoy the scenery; I've placed my bet, now fate decides.
2) To those fellow red/green color blind: LED's are very monochromatic compared to incandescent stoplights. So if that single wavelength happens to be in the part of color space that you can't distinguish well, then you're outta luck. With multichromatic light maybe there are other wavelengths that still allow you to differentiate red and green lights. But I usually have more problems at night distinguishing between red and yellow, and not between red and green (which is much more whitish to me).
3) Getting information on when stoplights will switch: I spoke to the traffic control center in my city, but they said that because so many lights are traffic- and pedestrian-controlled there's no way to provide, say, a car's navigation system with reliable data to inform the driver. In Ingolstadt, Germany there was a pilot project called Travolution
Audi Travolution Project Minimizes Red Lights and Emissions
in which, among other things, each stoplight informed approaching drivers over their infotainment system about what speed they need to maintain in order to roll through the green light. Presumably you could do this on a large scale if every stoplight had a small FM transmitter, which the car radio receives and passes the data on to the navigation system. Or better yet, the cars ahead of you tell you if they're standing at a light or in traffic, or moving (or for that matter, if the road is slippery i.e. they're using ABS or ESP alot).
