Traffic lights, more harm than good?
Discussion
Is it not time for a serious rethink about traffic lights and how they are used now. As I understand it they were originally introduced to help traffic flow and ease any congestion. Now in most cases they do the opposite. How many times have you come to a junction, been stopped by the lights, nothing passes on the conflicting road and eventually your light turns green? Stopped for nothing again. Most lights just go through a sequence all the time. Even at night they are still in use. Traffic lights should all be switched off at night, there is no need for them. All they are doing is adding to pollution.
Another pain is the roundabout with traffic signals on all the exits. Roundabouts were again introduced to aid traffic flow but putting lights all over them stops drivers getting into the correct lane easily and again causes congestion, totally defeating the point of having a roundabout.
There is also the element of 'green means I can go' to some drivers, even though there may be a reason why it would be dangerous to proceed, and the general lack of obedience of red traffic lights has now spread to level crossing lights too, with several serious incidents as a result.
It is time to think about reducing the number of traffic lights and the hours that those remaing are in use.
Here endeth todays moan!
Another pain is the roundabout with traffic signals on all the exits. Roundabouts were again introduced to aid traffic flow but putting lights all over them stops drivers getting into the correct lane easily and again causes congestion, totally defeating the point of having a roundabout.
There is also the element of 'green means I can go' to some drivers, even though there may be a reason why it would be dangerous to proceed, and the general lack of obedience of red traffic lights has now spread to level crossing lights too, with several serious incidents as a result.
It is time to think about reducing the number of traffic lights and the hours that those remaing are in use.
Here endeth todays moan!
It really depends where they are, there are too many now though. All part of the Council guide book on using up the budget
A: mini roundabout
B: traffic calming
C: traffic lights
Last time the traffic lights were out for a week the first couple of days were a mess but after that it was smoother than without.
A: mini roundabout
B: traffic calming
C: traffic lights
Last time the traffic lights were out for a week the first couple of days were a mess but after that it was smoother than without.
Traffic lights at normal junctions local to me work well as long as the timing priority between the intersecting roads is set up well.
Im with the OP on traffic light controlled roundabouts. They totally defeat the object of keeping traffic flowing but watching the public in action I dont think many could be trusted to negotiate a roundabout by themselves without having a box with coloured lights there to tell them what to do
IMO we should adopt the "turn left on red if clear" rule as other countries do allong with having them change to a constant amber repeat during the night when they are not needed.
Im with the OP on traffic light controlled roundabouts. They totally defeat the object of keeping traffic flowing but watching the public in action I dont think many could be trusted to negotiate a roundabout by themselves without having a box with coloured lights there to tell them what to do
IMO we should adopt the "turn left on red if clear" rule as other countries do allong with having them change to a constant amber repeat during the night when they are not needed.
Edited by JordanTurbo on Tuesday 8th October 20:17
I suspect some traffic lights are set more to cause inconvenience to motorist more than make traffic flow.
Well planned traffic lights should allow more traffic to flow per hour and not allow one route to monopolise at the expense of others during rush hour. A roundabout should allow traffic to flow when traffic is light - but there is often a risk of one route blocking others because it has much heavier traffic.
Well planned traffic lights should allow more traffic to flow per hour and not allow one route to monopolise at the expense of others during rush hour. A roundabout should allow traffic to flow when traffic is light - but there is often a risk of one route blocking others because it has much heavier traffic.
The really frustrating ones are the ones at the end of slip roads, we have some that when on during peak periods literally just scroll through the red amber green amber red sequence, you get one car through a time.
Many people seem to apply the rule of keep driving and hope its on green when you go through.
Many people seem to apply the rule of keep driving and hope its on green when you go through.
JordanTurbo said:
Traffic lights at normal junctions local to me work well as long as the timing priority between the intersecting roads is set up well.
Im with the OP on traffic light controlled roundabouts. They totally defeat the object of keeping traffic flowing but watching the public in action I dont think many could be trusted to negotiate a roundabout by themselves without having a box with coloured lights there to tell them what to do
IMO we should adopt the "turn left on red if clear" rule as other countries do allong with having them change to a constant amber repeat during the night when they are not needed.
I have already adopted that rule. Totally fed up of sitting around like an idiot.Im with the OP on traffic light controlled roundabouts. They totally defeat the object of keeping traffic flowing but watching the public in action I dont think many could be trusted to negotiate a roundabout by themselves without having a box with coloured lights there to tell them what to do
IMO we should adopt the "turn left on red if clear" rule as other countries do allong with having them change to a constant amber repeat during the night when they are not needed.
Edited by JordanTurbo on Tuesday 8th October 20:17
northandy said:
The really frustrating ones are the ones at the end of slip roads, we have some that when on during peak periods literally just scroll through the red amber green amber red sequence, you get one car through a time.
I think the objective is not to slow the motorway/dual carriageway down - some drivers seem to think in rush hour there will be room for 20 cars nose to tail to join the carriageway - when if they just left a sensible gap it is more likely everyone could slot in.Though a set of them makes it a real pain to get out on one roundabout - as the traffic rarely comes to a total stop and is enough to block all other routes
It pisses me off at night. So many of them can be easily turned off and treated as give-ways.
Near me, there's a traffic light 3-lane roundabout. During the day you need the lights, but at 3am? You can always see a good 75 yards down each exit at least, there's no reason they couldnt turn them off, save some electric, and keep traffic flowing at 3am, instead of having to sit and wait for 4 exits to change before it comes back around.
Dont get me started on those f
kers that change at night, stop you, then change straight back when nothing comes through.
Near me, there's a traffic light 3-lane roundabout. During the day you need the lights, but at 3am? You can always see a good 75 yards down each exit at least, there's no reason they couldnt turn them off, save some electric, and keep traffic flowing at 3am, instead of having to sit and wait for 4 exits to change before it comes back around.
Dont get me started on those f
kers that change at night, stop you, then change straight back when nothing comes through.MiniMan64 said:
Wasn't there a story several years ago about a town in Holland somewhere that eliminated them completely? Cut accidents in half or something
It might have been the same town that also gave priority to peds over motor vehicles (or was that in Scandinavia?).Perhaps the 'flashing' amber as used in most of Europe at night for traffic lights added with the speed sensors, so that speeding traffic get a red light (Germany and Spain have them).
Problem is, you just know the first fatal t-bone at a junction will mean all the traffic lights go back on.
95% of the time 95% of traffic lights are useless. (I made that statistic up by the way). In a small town where I work during the weeek, there's a set of lights that 'control' a semi-pedestrianised bit of road. 20mph limit. It's a T junction, with the lights on the cross of the T, controling exiting down the upright section. Most of the time, when you arrive at either light, there's absolutley nothing facing you. So I now ignore them. Most pedestrians seems able to get out of my way succesfully. (made that up as well)!! Incidentally, is Bristol the most densely populated town with traffic lights?
robinessex said:
Incidentally, is Bristol the most densely populated town with traffic lights?
It has to be. The sheer number and pointlessness of Bristol traffic lights is staggering.
But then the entire way transport is f
ked up in Bristol is staggering too, so I guess a few traffic lights should come as no surprise.The Germans should come back and finish what they started in 1940, IMO.
fangio said:
Apparently there is a new 'roundabout' thingy in Stockton on Tees with 58 poles on it. It took a PEDESTRIAN 15 minutes to negotiate it!!!
Any more details? If its where I'm thinking, theyve removed a RAB that was busy twice a day, with a huge amount of signals that mean its busy permanently while you wait for your turn...Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff