I also hate temporary traffic lights with a vengence. Probably the only style of signal that I really dislike.
The ones round here are now fitted with traffic sensors so change as you approach them if the road is clear.
OTOH there does seem to be an awful lot of roadworks going on at the moment. Which smacks of councils frantically spending their budget before it gets taken away from them. :mad:
I bloody hate traffic lights, one got stuck for ages when I was in a taxi last week, instead of costing me a fiver it cost me nearly nine squids. pfft.
They should be phased properly. I am talking about Staples Corner and similar.
It's not rocket science. I have never seen them all on green at once. The result being massive queues.
I think the powers that be phase them wrongly on purpose to back up their argument to extend the congestion charge zone. Once the congestion zone has been extended - they re-set the bloody things to run smoothly. Hey presto the congestion charge is a success. I am too cynical I think. :eek:
I think they should be allowed to go from red and amber back to red, if they change their mind. And from amber back to green if they want to. Drivers would be more careful because they could never be quite sure what's coming next.
I think they should be allowed to go from red and amber back to red, if they change their mind. And from amber back to green if they want to. Drivers would be more careful because they could never be quite sure what's coming next.
With all due respect, that has to be the most stupid idea I've ever heard. Sorry. Far from having traffic lights with personality that can change their mind (for whatever reason you don't state) = Why not just sync the lights to keep traffic moving freely. Yes at busy times there will always be queues. But your suggestion that because drivers won't know what comes next they will drive safer is a little far fetched to say the least. I have to thank you as it actually made me "LOL":D
I still see a lot of traffic lights that are too high here, and are blocked from the front driver's view. I think this is really clever of the French to do.
If he can't see them, or another set across the road, he's too far forward.
I can't recall having a problem with them anywhere I've been in the UK.
I saw a great set of temporary traffic lights last week. They were being driven away on the back of a truck, after roadworks had finished, but they were still switched on!
The Traffic Lights i hate are, the ones, who go Green for 30 seconds, then, what feels like, Red for 5 bloomin minutes.:mad:, even worse ones are, when the Light changes to Red, on the main Road, the one allowing Traffic from the side Road, is on Green, yet there's no Traffic[& Pedestrians, waiting to cross the main Road] waiting at the Lights, from the side Road.:mad:
Traffic lights normally show red & yellow before green, but lights in my area never show this sequence which I think it is a bit odd which the rest of the UK has this but not where I live!
The yellow light is not broken which it only appears before the red light comes back on.
Traffic lights normally show red & yellow before green, but lights in my area never show this sequence which I think it is a bit odd which the rest of the UK has this but not where I live!
The yellow light is not broken which it only appears before the red light comes back on.
What gives?
We don't have yellow traffic signals on roads in the UK, are you sure you weren't driving on a railway line?
I also hate temporary traffic lights with a vengence. Probably the only style of signal that I really dislike.
Why people can't go through them on red when it's late at night, no work men around, no cars coming in the opposite direction is frankly beyond me.
If there is no other traffic around the signals will change as you as you approach them. Temporary signals always rest on all red, so provided they have run through the clearance phase since the last vehicles and they are set up correctly they will change to red amber within seconds of detecting your vehicle - which if there is a long sight line on the approach can be before you even start to slow down.
Of course as they are portable and are set up on each site sometimes the clearance phase can be set too long or the detectors might not be aligned as well as they could be so they aren't always perfect.
Portable signals have the same legal meaning as any other signals, that's why you can't drive through on red.
An actual improvement would be to do what France do:
the first car has to look up at an angle to see the lights, In France they have a mini set of lights facing the driver first in line so they can see it much easier and be more prepared for it so set off quicker.
In the UK there is always a secondary signal head beyond the stop line so there is no reason to be looking up at the primary head. If you can't see the secondary head clearly it's probably because you have stopped beyond the line, either way you should make you you can clearly see the signals that apply to you when you stop and stop further back if need be.
In America, you can turn right against a red light.
We should have the same system here, except, of course, when turning left.
No we shouldn't. Red means stop.
If it is safe to turn left when other directions have a red signal there can be a left filter lane with a give way marking, rather than devaluing the meaning of a red signal.
the first car has to look up at an angle to see the lights, In France they have a mini set of lights facing the driver first in line so they can see it much easier and be more prepared for it so set off quicker.
How does that work?
Would one treat turning left as a give way as the traffic from the cross direction has a green light?
I don't get it.
Yes, in a nutshell. If there is no traffic coming from your left or straight across you can turn right. There are places where it's not safe to do so and so you aren't allowed to turn right on red (it's clearly marked).
I enjoy a latte any time of day, and I don't care what it looks like
If we could start again from scratch I'd choose more distinctive colours. Green (arguably the least important from a safety point of view) is fine, but amber looks like street lights and red looks like car tail lights.
Yes, in a nutshell. If there is no traffic coming from your left or straight across you can turn right. There are places where it's not safe to do so and so you aren't allowed to turn right on red (it's clearly marked).
We don't have yellow traffic signals on roads in the UK, are you sure you weren't driving on a railway line?
he means the amber light you would normally see before green isn't in the phase, it just goes red to green, then green amber red. American signals do this very thing.
I personally haven't seen this happen on our signals, although I have seen some of the new LED ones show the amber signal incredibly fast before green showed.
Next time you're stuck in lights wanting to turn left imagine doing it if there was no other traffic to impede you.
I have to do this all the time as I still forget to turn on red
Comments
OTOH there does seem to be an awful lot of roadworks going on at the moment. Which smacks of councils frantically spending their budget before it gets taken away from them. :mad:
It's not rocket science. I have never seen them all on green at once. The result being massive queues.
I think the powers that be phase them wrongly on purpose to back up their argument to extend the congestion charge zone. Once the congestion zone has been extended - they re-set the bloody things to run smoothly. Hey presto the congestion charge is a success. I am too cynical I think. :eek:
With all due respect, that has to be the most stupid idea I've ever heard. Sorry. Far from having traffic lights with personality that can change their mind (for whatever reason you don't state) = Why not just sync the lights to keep traffic moving freely. Yes at busy times there will always be queues. But your suggestion that because drivers won't know what comes next they will drive safer is a little far fetched to say the least. I have to thank you as it actually made me "LOL":D
Hawick has no traffic lights apart from pedestrian ones.:cool::cool:
I can't recall having a problem with them anywhere I've been in the UK.
Traffic lights normally show red & yellow before green, but lights in my area never show this sequence which I think it is a bit odd which the rest of the UK has this but not where I live!
The yellow light is not broken which it only appears before the red light comes back on.
What gives?
Of course as they are portable and are set up on each site sometimes the clearance phase can be set too long or the detectors might not be aligned as well as they could be so they aren't always perfect.
Portable signals have the same legal meaning as any other signals, that's why you can't drive through on red.
We should have the same system here, except, of course, when turning left.
If it is safe to turn left when other directions have a red signal there can be a left filter lane with a give way marking, rather than devaluing the meaning of a red signal.
Same in Spain as well.
It works really well.
How does that work?
Would one treat turning left as a give way as the traffic from the cross direction has a green light?
I don't get it.
Yes, in a nutshell. If there is no traffic coming from your left or straight across you can turn right. There are places where it's not safe to do so and so you aren't allowed to turn right on red (it's clearly marked).
I enjoy a latte any time of day, and I don't care what it looks like
If we could start again from scratch I'd choose more distinctive colours. Green (arguably the least important from a safety point of view) is fine, but amber looks like street lights and red looks like car tail lights.
Ah, I see. thanks SM.
Sounds interesting :eek:
Introduce flashing amber at night like in america.
he means the amber light you would normally see before green isn't in the phase, it just goes red to green, then green amber red. American signals do this very thing.
I personally haven't seen this happen on our signals, although I have seen some of the new LED ones show the amber signal incredibly fast before green showed.
Next time you're stuck in lights wanting to turn left imagine doing it if there was no other traffic to impede you.
I have to do this all the time as I still forget to turn on red