Why do roundabouts need traffis lights
Discussion
CommanderJameson said:
Because some traffic engineers are raving loonies who hate people, cars and all they stand for.
[rant]They're not engineers though! Think the proper term is traffic PLANNERS - fed of of every Tom, Dick and Harry claiming to be an "engineer" when their job has the square root of sod-all to do with engineering of any sort!
The bloke who empties your bin is not a "sanitation engineer", he's a binman.
The bloke from Dyno-Rod is not a "drainage engineer", he's a man who clears drains.
etc etc, ad nauseum
Geddit?
[/rant]
And yes, the traffic planners are generally as incompetent as a Nu Labour MP. Apparently the one for Doncaster - who designed that bloody abortion of a roundabout on St Georges Way, the one with umpteen sets of lights - has never driven a car or even attempted driving lessons.
leggly said:
As a user of the highways of this fair 
ry. WHY do we have to have traffic lights working all sodding night.? I can use said traffic junction without prompts from a fking lightbulb at two in the morning.
COUNTRY was spelled incorrectly for this rant.
Don't know. IN Chelmsford I think they only use the Traffic Lights on weekdays during Rush Hour. ry. WHY do we have to have traffic lights working all sodding night.? I can use said traffic junction without prompts from a fking lightbulb at two in the morning. COUNTRY was spelled incorrectly for this rant.Some roundabouts require traffic lights because they suffer from "tidal flow". i.e. All the traffic comes from one direction in the morning, heads the other way in the evening. What this means is that if you try and join the roundabout from an entry that has to give way to the flow you will never get out. Never getting out is annoying - but worse it causes a queue that backs up - possibly into another hazard and causes congestion and/or accidents.
Rushhour in the donut city is a good example of this. There can be a queue back onto a dual carriageway from one roundabout.
What's annoying is that they tried switching on the traffic lights only in rush hour because that's the only time it's needed. It turned out that most drivers were simply confused by this and had no fking clue what to do when the lights were off. Incredible but true.
Never underestimate the fundamental stupidity of the vast majority.
Rushhour in the donut city is a good example of this. There can be a queue back onto a dual carriageway from one roundabout.
What's annoying is that they tried switching on the traffic lights only in rush hour because that's the only time it's needed. It turned out that most drivers were simply confused by this and had no f
king clue what to do when the lights were off. Incredible but true.Never underestimate the fundamental stupidity of the vast majority.
Some islands need traffic lights due to the large amounts of traffic, the motorway island in Oldbury for example was the scene of many accidents due to people taking risks pulling out (it was the point where the M5 and several main A-roads met).
I think they are over-used sometimes, but a lot of times they are necessary. Agree that they should be turned off at night though, say from 2100-0500 as traffic levels do not require them.
I think they are over-used sometimes, but a lot of times they are necessary. Agree that they should be turned off at night though, say from 2100-0500 as traffic levels do not require them.
They just turned off some traffic lights in one of my local towns, the traffic moves much better.
They recently setup and built a new set of traffic lights in another local town of mine (how much did that cost!!?), it caused so much congestion that they turned them off within a week!
What an absolute waste of money!!
Does anybody also notice the fact that lights sometimes change, even if there is nobody on the other side of the junction? They seem to change to red for about a minute. Why the hell is this? Why don't they stay green if nothing is coming the other way???
Odd.
They recently setup and built a new set of traffic lights in another local town of mine (how much did that cost!!?), it caused so much congestion that they turned them off within a week!
What an absolute waste of money!!
Does anybody also notice the fact that lights sometimes change, even if there is nobody on the other side of the junction? They seem to change to red for about a minute. Why the hell is this? Why don't they stay green if nothing is coming the other way???
Odd.
Some roundabouts need better flow management...
Take, for example, the one near the big Asda in Rotherham - anyone that knows it will know that it can block in next to no time when the "keep clear" sections are stopped on. Lights would probably alleviate that. Or painting a bloody great yellow grid...
The crossing 50 yards after the exit onto the main road doesn't help as it's always on red, which exasperates the situation....
Take, for example, the one near the big Asda in Rotherham - anyone that knows it will know that it can block in next to no time when the "keep clear" sections are stopped on. Lights would probably alleviate that. Or painting a bloody great yellow grid...
The crossing 50 yards after the exit onto the main road doesn't help as it's always on red, which exasperates the situation....
We've recently had to put up with the replacement of the roundabout at the end of our road with a set of traffic lights. Traffic backs up so that there can now be 5 to 10 minute delay in the morning to get through them while we wait for the non-existant queues on the other 3 sides of the junction to get a green light.
Still, at least the bus lane allows the window licker express to have unimpeded passage at all times of the day.
Still, at least the bus lane allows the window licker express to have unimpeded passage at all times of the day.
Puggit said:
There is frequent evidence that when these lights fail, the roundabouts work much better.
Is that because it confuses the hell out of the majority of motorists, when they actually have to stop and think for a second instead of just bowing down in obedience to the glow of red, amber and green bulbs without switching their brains on?I reckon quite a few lights like that if you turned them off permanently you'd find after a while the usual chaos & disorder would ensue, as people got used to the new situation and just cruised through with brain in neutral.
There were some mini-roundabouts in Bathgate that used to be risky at times because there were pedestrian crossings almost immediately on all 4 exits. You'd be too busy looking to your left for a gap to pull out in to find the bit of road ahead had suddenly stopped for the per lights at the opposite exit. Or the alternative - you'd be straightening up after the roundabout and realise there was a red light 10m off the bows. And if a PH pedant says you should be looking for such things in advance - that's all fine and well, but you'll find most drivers aren't taught the observation skills to do such things, they'd assess one danger at a time (the roundabout) and get clear of that before assessing the next (the red light they'd driven through).
The solution the council took? Build speed bumps.
Jonny_ said:
CommanderJameson said:
Because some traffic engineers are raving loonies who hate people, cars and all they stand for.
[rant]They're not engineers though! Think the proper term is traffic PLANNERS - fed of of every Tom, Dick and Harry claiming to be an "engineer" when their job has the square root of sod-all to do with engineering of any sort!
The bloke who empties your bin is not a "sanitation engineer", he's a binman.
The bloke from Dyno-Rod is not a "drainage engineer", he's a man who clears drains.
etc etc, ad nauseum
Geddit?
[/rant]
Thank you!Guybrush said:
I very often experience unnecessary traffic lights as well as bad phasing. Given the resultant fuel wasted throughout the country on a daily basis, one has to wonder what the real agenda of the "engineers" must be. 
Filling Gordy's coffers with fuel tax. CO2 emissions? Good we'll tax those as well. 
Mc Lovin said:
Go to the magic roundabout in Swindon, there are no traffic lights, its just a free for all, its the weirdest thing i've seen
Works really well though I find, if quite amusing to watch when you have half a dozen people from out of town on it who clearly have no idea of how roundabouts work...Much better than the Turnpike roundabout on the edge of town (between the A419 and Thamesdown Drive) which is the bain of my life in the mornings thanks to the utterly ridiculous phasing of the traffic lights on it that let just 4-5 cars through.
Mc Lovin said:
Go to the magic roundabout in Swindon, there are no traffic lights, its just a free for all, its the weirdest thing i've seen
Weird it certainly is, but the interesting thing is that it works absolutely brilliantly. Seeing the fear on learner drivers and non-locals is always fun 
If you want traffic light stupidity, you need look no further than Southampton - for shear volume it can't be beaten but added to that the location and implementation of them is beyond belief. Nearly all the roundabouts have been treated to lights, the latest set I questioned the road planners who responded that it was for road safety. When I asked the number of KSI on the roundabout? None. There have however been 14 accidents in something like 7 years on it...
They go one better here though - they'll install traffic lights on 3 out of 4 entrances to a roundabout, leaving one with just a give way. Of course, they don't time the lights to allow anyone out of that one give way, so you get massive tailbacks building up on that route. I've never seen such a high concentration of road rage as on that stretch!
There have however been 14 accidents in something like 7 years on it...They go one better here though - they'll install traffic lights on 3 out of 4 entrances to a roundabout, leaving one with just a give way. Of course, they don't time the lights to allow anyone out of that one give way, so you get massive tailbacks building up on that route. I've never seen such a high concentration of road rage as on that stretch!
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