Should traffic lights be switched off at night?

[gazza285]

caelite said:

gazza285 said:

Yes. While we are at it, anybody that parks on the pavement should have their car crushed, and banned from having another forever. Same with poor lane discipline on motorways. That should free up enough room on the roads to make traffic lights more or less obsolete anyway.

Haha why? Especially with these new "triple wide" pavements that some councils are putting in at expensive of road space, In many places it is becoming more and more necessary to bump a couple of wheels up on the kerb to prevent obstruction to traffic flow.

There's no triple wide pavements around here, just knobheads who park on the pavement. The road isn't wide enough for two lanes of traffic whether they park on the pavement or not, so why restrict the pavement as well as the road? How about bringing in the same laws as HGVs, no off road parking, no car, why should my taxes go towards providing a parking space for somebody else?

[PurpleMoonlight]

In Leicester they seem to set them all to red at night, so you are forced to stop and wait for them to change every time even though you an see the opposing set is also on red.

It's bloody annoying at 4.30 am with little other vehicles on the road.

[ALT F4]

A lot of traffic lights could be switched off with normal give-way/priority road markings used instead.
A lot of the roundabout lights for example could easily be turned off in low traffic volumes.

One problem the UK has is the overwhelming power of "health and safety" and the chance occurrence that one person in a million might have an uncomfortable experience and start to sue the authorities.... by this I mean a lot of roundabouts also have pedestrian footpaths and controls on the lights, and for this reason they must be operative 24/7.

Because it only takes one drunken retard to force the burned of the lowest-common-denominator effect on to everyone else.
(Much how many of the road/driving restrictions come in to place here in England - and why we have so many signs everywhere for what should be common sense actions).

[MoggieMinor]

The lights could still be set up so that they can work as pedestrian crossings if need be.

[Jasandjules]

I would prefer to see the lights actually set to a frequency that allowed traffic to flow. In daytime as well......

I am sure some can be switched off (I suspect we all know sets of lights that appear to serve no purpose but to delay traffic flow) but many I would prefer to be left on ambers at least - given the standard of many motorists.

[Dammit]

For traffic to flow in the UK you'd need to remove ~80% of it, re-sequencing the traffic lights will achieve nothing.

[ferrariF50lover]

What the UK needs: 5-year retesting, 'keep left' public information films, a huge number of unnecessarily traffic light controlled junctions switched for roundabouts, selective left turn on red, flashing amber at night, a two-stage licence for new drivers.

What the UK will get: more speed cameras.

[jesta1865]

Willy Nilly said:

chazwind said:

An increasing number of medium-major roundabouts are being converted to 'circular junctions' with at least 3-4 sets of traffic lights. Total waste of time to trundle from one red light to the next, at 4am with not another car in sight, as is usually the case.

Flashing ambers should be the answer.

Anyone that has anything whatsoever with installing traffic lights on roundabout should face a firing squad and the rifles used should be fairly low powered so it hurts more. The people involved in the traffic lights on the roundabouts at Tesco and Cuckoo corner in Southend should also be subjected to prolonged and sustained violence before facing the firing squad.

when you've finished with the cuckoo corner lot, can you please go to town on the fking morons who designed and marked out the new sadler's farm roundabout, it's huge that's ok, but has traffic lights all over it, the lanes are so badly laid out, people find themselves being corralled off up the a13 when they want the road to chelmsford, panic and cut into another lane without looking properly, if at all. as for the idea of sticking a huge roundabout there only to give people a lane through it to turn right onto canvey island, which spanner thought that was a good idea? the inbreds going onto the island nip across and block the lanes going round the edge and then benfleet gets backed up. there needs to be a special type of hell for the guys who thought that little gem up!

[xjay1337]

Many traffic lights in my area actually turn to Red as you approach!!!
After approaching the local council this is to "slow vehicles down" during "peak hours for speeding".

[daytona355]

That doesn't surprise me at all, country is going to the dogs

[LunarOne]

About once every six weeks or so I drive from Oxfordshire back to my home in Surrey after midnight via the M40 - M25 - A30. Coming off the M25 at J13 to join the A30 heading into Surrey requires going straight across the roundabout as if to rejoin the motorway, and yet the timing of the two sets of lights on the roundabout is always an annoyance. Two seconds after the first set of lights at the bottom of the slip road turn green, the next set on the roundabout turn red. This setup positively brings out the lunatic in me. If the lights are red as I approach from the motorway, I'll barrel down the slip road hoping that the first set of lights will turn green just in time that I don't have to slow down excessively and can then make the second set of lights comfortably before they turn red. This happens about 30% of the time. If I do have to stop at the first set, then a maximum acceleration standing start is required in order to make sure I get through the second set of lights in time. Usually they turn amber just as I am crossing the line. I'm certainly not the only driver annoyed by this as I've seen plenty of other drivers employing similar tactics at that roundabout.

Even if those lights can't be turned into a flashing amber during the dead hours when almost nobody's about, it would make sense that sensors turn the lights green for cars coming off the motorway at those times.

[Devil2575]

daytona355 said:

That doesn't surprise me at all, country is going to the dogs

Ah, you're one of those people

[Dammit]

It's quite handy though, like the black and yellow banding of wasps.

[Willy Nilly]

jesta1865 said:

Willy Nilly said:

chazwind said:

An increasing number of medium-major roundabouts are being converted to 'circular junctions' with at least 3-4 sets of traffic lights. Total waste of time to trundle from one red light to the next, at 4am with not another car in sight, as is usually the case.

Flashing ambers should be the answer.

Anyone that has anything whatsoever with installing traffic lights on roundabout should face a firing squad and the rifles used should be fairly low powered so it hurts more. The people involved in the traffic lights on the roundabouts at Tesco and Cuckoo corner in Southend should also be subjected to prolonged and sustained violence before facing the firing squad.

when you've finished with the cuckoo corner lot, can you please go to town on the fking morons who designed and marked out the new sadler's farm roundabout, it's huge that's ok, but has traffic lights all over it, the lanes are so badly laid out, people find themselves being corralled off up the a13 when they want the road to chelmsford, panic and cut into another lane without looking properly, if at all. as for the idea of sticking a huge roundabout there only to give people a lane through it to turn right onto canvey island, which spanner thought that was a good idea? the inbreds going onto the island nip across and block the lanes going round the edge and then benfleet gets backed up. there needs to be a special type of hell for the guys who thought that little gem up!

Should we start a lynch mob?