Simon Washington, a civil-engineering professor at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, co-wrote a study for the Arizona Department of Transportation in 2005 that cited other work showing that extending yellow-light intervals can reduce red-light running by 50% to 70%.

WSJ: Hard to Put Red-Light Violations Under a Lens

"The number of collapsed buildings this time is less, and most are old houses that were built long before, " added Wang Ruheng, dean of the school of civil engineering and architecture at Southwest University of Science and Technology in the city of Mianyang, in Sichuan province.

WSJ: After China Quake, Efforts Turn to Recovery