Bloody Traffic lights on Round a Bouts

[Mr Taxpayer]

Nimby said:

Mr Taxpayer said:

They are currently installing a similar style of roundabout at Black Dam in Basingstoke. Priority will run from the A339 'Basingring' to/from M3 Junction 6.

Not really - priority will be "from" M3 J6 only. There will be four lanes northbound from the motorway spur across the hamburger to the A339, but M3-bound traffic has to go round as it's always done. Schematic

Edited by Nimby on Wednesday 7th January 16:55

Sorry I didn't realise it was 'from the M3' only. Phasing that lot looks like fun! Doesn't look like there's any option for traffic in the left lane turning left to filter an give way.

[darthcrooks]

this junction. Maddening.

It's busy on a morning so traffic lights are just about justifiable to manage the flow, but.. they run 24 HOURS. You can be sat for whole minutes at 1am with literally no other traffic on the roundabout. More infuriatingly still, they installed traffic lights at the end of the slip road, which must have cost thousands... ran them for a few months (pointless exercise) and then turned them back off. To what end??

Edited by darthcrooks on Tuesday 27th January 10:01

[Mr Taxpayer]

darthcrooks said:

this junction. Maddening.

It's busy on a morning so traffic lights are just about justifiable to manage the flow, but.. they run 24 HOURS. You can be sat for whole minutes at 1am with literally no other traffic on the roundabout. More infuriatingly still, they installed traffic lights at the end of the slip road, which must have cost thousands... ran them for a few months (pointless exercise) and then turned them back off. To what end??

Edited by darthcrooks on Tuesday 27th January 10:01

The dark o'clock no-one there lights really irk my ire. Many, many years ago I used to travel through Henley late at night on my motorbike. There was a traffic light controling access over the bridge. My alloy, framed, alloy engined, alloy wheeled bike didn't have enough ferrous metal content to to trigger the induction loop for the lights; they would change straight away if a car came up! Consequently I treated them like a 'Give way'.

[wack]

I had a job that finished between 1-2am for a week, every time I came off the motorway to come home I'd get 100m from the top of the slip road and they'd change to red

I'd sit there for 20 seconds and they'd go back to green.

Every fking time

[Mr Taxpayer]

wack said:

I had a job that finished between 1-2am for a week, every time I came off the motorway to come home I'd get 100m from the top of the slip road and they'd change to red

I'd sit there for 20 seconds and they'd go back to green.

Every fking time

They would have been set slow you down as you came off the motorway. They worked. I come off the M4 at J13 Chievely late every Sunday night and they are ALWAYS red at the bottom of the slip road unless there is alread another car there.

[Timlocalad]

Dunno what you're all moaning about, Oxford are putting roads through the middle of the roundabouts on the ring road, 'Hamburger roundabouts' they call them, these also have lights controlling entry from every direction therefore I would assume that out of peak hours it would be impossible to turn them off. It will be interesting to see what happens when they fail

[Who me ?]

wack said:

I had a job that finished between 1-2am for a week, every time I came off the motorway to come home I'd get 100m from the top of the slip road and they'd change to red

I'd sit there for 20 seconds and they'd go back to green.

Every fking time

As I said a few posts, the default phasing on M6 seems to be to give priority ( hence green ) on exit from motorway and red on preceding exits. Hence you could come down ramp on a junction with little /no traffic around ( most likely in the small hours ) to find easy access onto the island and greens all the way round ,till the next Motorway exit, where your progress would be blocked for a few moments by a red .

[Mr Taxpayer]

Timlocalad said:

Dunno what you're all moaning about, Oxford are putting roads through the middle of the roundabouts on the ring road, 'Hamburger roundabouts' they call them, these also have lights controlling entry from every direction therefore I would assume that out of peak hours it would be impossible to turn them off. It will be interesting to see what happens when they fail

If the Belmont Road roundabout in Hereford is anything to go by, then it all works a lot better.

[Hooli]

Mr Taxpayer said:

Timlocalad said:

Dunno what you're all moaning about, Oxford are putting roads through the middle of the roundabouts on the ring road, 'Hamburger roundabouts' they call them, these also have lights controlling entry from every direction therefore I would assume that out of peak hours it would be impossible to turn them off. It will be interesting to see what happens when they fail

If the Belmont Road roundabout in Hereford is anything to go by, then it all works a lot better.

Got one of them coming off the M62 near Leeds as well. White Rose roundabout possibly?

[Mr Tidy]

Red Devil said:

For a very long time, the A322 in Bracknell has had a smaller version of Canford Bottom, whereby the primary route has subsequently been cut through the centre of the original roundabout and a forest of lights installed. The purpose is to prioritise the major traffic flow which has a certain logic, but it beats me why they can't switch them off at night. Turning right is then a PITA with a succession of stop/starts which have no benefit to anyone. Suppressing the lights for at least 25% of each 24 hour period (for example between 9pm and 6am) would save time and money all round.

And if you are heading for the A329M you then get the joy of the "Twin Bridges" roundabout which is now really the "7 Lights Fk-up" and they don't go off at any time.
Those who plan these schemes aren't interested in saving time and money, they just want to spoil your day in the hope you won't take the car to their "urban utopia" - wouldn't be so bad but I work in Bracknell so I have to go there but it is a miserable shole with no redeeming features populated mostly by morons! (particularly the councillors).
Oh, nearly forgot, the latest plan is to remove the roundabout before the "hamburger" one you mentioned and replace it with just lights - that will create some spectacular accidents!
Perhaps they get a commission from the BIB and ambulance service.
Hateful place - they must be modelling it on Reading which is so bad I just don't go there anymore!
In fact it seems to be most of Berkshire - are the Greens in charge, or just cabbages?

[nickwilcock]

With the increase in vehicle performance since many roundabouts were first constructed, higher speeds are now common on the roundabout. Many motorists are too lazy to signal their intentions, which makes filtering more difficult than it should be.

Whereas traffic lights do at least enable motorists to enter a roundabout.

Perhaps if people weren't so impatient, discourteous and lazy, there wouldn't be any need for these infernal lights.

[Mr Tidy]

nickwilcock said:

Perhaps if people weren't so impatient, discourteous and lazy, there wouldn't be any need for these infernal lights.

Substitute "incompetent and dozy" in place of "lazy" and you may have a point!

But in towns that are deserted outside of rush hours why can't they turn the bl*****g lights off?

[Mr Tidy]

Mr Taxpayer said:

Gloucester.
The A40/A417 roundabout had "Peak Time only" lights. Since November these have been set to 'all the time'.

The A417/Corinium Way roundabout had "peak time only" lights and not all of the entrances to the roundabout were light controlled. They've now widened and "improved" the roundablout. In the process they installed lights at all entrances and made them on all the time.

These "improvements" add 2 minutes to my journey on a Sunday night as well as increasing CO2 emissions from me having to idle and accelerate to 70 from standstill twice plus all those lights on all the time.

If councils can justify turning off the streetlights, why can't they turn off the traffic lights too?

Because they are all FK tree-hugging non-driving simpletons.

So next time you get to vote you know what to ask them - if they have the time to get their snouts out of the trough!!