Removal of traffic lights. Who to ask.
Discussion
My home town used to have the A30 running right through the middle, as a result of all the traffic needing to be regulated and people joining from side roads within the town the town had a set of traffic lights installed and one of the roads was made one way.
Fast forward to the 90s and a bypass was built, go ahead a little further and the main road was made one way for most vehicles (buses, taxis, services vehicles a cyclists are allowed both ways).
I have noticed that the traffic lights seem to exist now to just stop the remaining traffic and then let it go once there is a queue. The whole lot would flow perfectly well if the lights were not there because the volume has reduced and many vehicles are simply not allowed onto this section of road anymore. I often arrive at the lights to wait on my own for someone else who has been waiting on their own to go.
To whom in authority would I suggest the lights be removed completely ? is this sort of thing even possible or are we stuck with them because they have always been there. ? To me its a waste of time, money and electricity, not to mention the carbons.
Fast forward to the 90s and a bypass was built, go ahead a little further and the main road was made one way for most vehicles (buses, taxis, services vehicles a cyclists are allowed both ways).
I have noticed that the traffic lights seem to exist now to just stop the remaining traffic and then let it go once there is a queue. The whole lot would flow perfectly well if the lights were not there because the volume has reduced and many vehicles are simply not allowed onto this section of road anymore. I often arrive at the lights to wait on my own for someone else who has been waiting on their own to go.
To whom in authority would I suggest the lights be removed completely ? is this sort of thing even possible or are we stuck with them because they have always been there. ? To me its a waste of time, money and electricity, not to mention the carbons.
Go on the local council website and search for highways department.
Ring the general enquiries number, not the main switchboard and you should be able to be directed to the person you need.
Been out of LG for a few years but there should be a Traffic Signals section if it's a decent sized council.
If it's small then 1 or 2 guys may do the lot.
Ring the general enquiries number, not the main switchboard and you should be able to be directed to the person you need.
Been out of LG for a few years but there should be a Traffic Signals section if it's a decent sized council.
If it's small then 1 or 2 guys may do the lot.
In Reading in 2010, a Tory/Lib Dem coalition took over from Labour and set about creating a sensible list of unnecessary traffic lights to be removed (a pleasant change from Labour, who instead had had a programme of replacing perfectly good unsignalled roundabouts with traffic lights, and guess what, that caused queues which hadn't been there before).
They only got to remove one or two sets of traffic lights before Labour got back in the following year, whereupon the traffic light removal programme was cancelled because apparently it was a "petrolhead" thing. What about all the cyclists who also have to stop at unnecessary red lights? (Yes, I know, but some of them actually do.)
Many of the remaining needless sets of lights are not even vehicle-actuated, and it's hard to see why you find yourself sitting at red lights again and again when nothing's coming the other way unless it's a case either of malice or of extreme and repeated incompetence. No, it's not some wonderful intelligent interlinked system where you might think it's inefficient at one junction but it actually improves traffic flow in the town overall; it happens at the dead of night where it's more than obvious that there is no benefit whatsoever to any road user. (A bit like all the bus lanes being 24-hour...)
So I guess my point is that it's probably worth contacting the council to see if they'll look into it, but it very much depends upon who's running the show, and unfortunately there's every chance that those concerned will be well aware of the unnecessary queues and have no intention of doing anything about them. It's "for the environment", you see: pointless stopping and starting improves that no end apparently.
They only got to remove one or two sets of traffic lights before Labour got back in the following year, whereupon the traffic light removal programme was cancelled because apparently it was a "petrolhead" thing. What about all the cyclists who also have to stop at unnecessary red lights? (Yes, I know, but some of them actually do.)
Many of the remaining needless sets of lights are not even vehicle-actuated, and it's hard to see why you find yourself sitting at red lights again and again when nothing's coming the other way unless it's a case either of malice or of extreme and repeated incompetence. No, it's not some wonderful intelligent interlinked system where you might think it's inefficient at one junction but it actually improves traffic flow in the town overall; it happens at the dead of night where it's more than obvious that there is no benefit whatsoever to any road user. (A bit like all the bus lanes being 24-hour...)
So I guess my point is that it's probably worth contacting the council to see if they'll look into it, but it very much depends upon who's running the show, and unfortunately there's every chance that those concerned will be well aware of the unnecessary queues and have no intention of doing anything about them. It's "for the environment", you see: pointless stopping and starting improves that no end apparently.
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