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Actually – all the evidence is that, when you take the lights away, junctions become safer. Probably because they feel more dangerous, and people take more care. Some places don’t use lights at all (Paris is one famous one). And you’ve only got to experience a busy junction where the lights are temporarily out of order to discover just how cautious people get. The issue, I believe, is that they also slow overall traffic flow.
(Annecdote: A large roundabout close to my last home had large sight screens installed between the entrance and exit lanes at each point, stopping drivers approaching it from seeing what traffic was actually on it for the last 30 yards or so of their approach. Some locals were up in arms about it being “a death trap” – but what ACTUALLY happened was that you automatically slowed right down when you got to the screens, and made sure you could see what was coming round towards you before you entered. I have no figures for it, but I have no doubts whatsoever that it was WAY safer – the mental pressure to not throw yourself out into unknown traffic was HUGE.)
I’m pretty sure that, if you want a smooth landing on Mars, that’s EXACTLY how science works. The solution is a velocity within certain bounds, at a chosen location on Mars, within a given window. You still need the equations that will let you get to that solution (but people have mostly done the hard work for you). Then “all” you have to do is fill in the numbers that give you the answer you want.
Karmagain?