[Elevator passengers] suffer forms of time distortion that seem peculiarly attached to the elevator-riding experience. "Door dwell," for example, refers to the time it takes the elevator doors to close once you've boarded. "Door dwell" typically lasts two to four seconds. Do you reach for the door-close button anyway? Would you still reach for it if you knew that most building managers disable the buttons out of fear of trapped limbs and lawsuits?

Once on board, our antsiness only intensifies as we wait for the door to close. How long? "Door dwell," as the engineers call it, tends to be set at two to four seconds.

The present invention is directed to controlling the door dwell time of an elevator car door based on traffic conditions.