Traffic light phases - myth or fact?

[DrYazz]

I am not sure where I heard or read about this, so do not know if it has any basis in fact.
But I would be thoroughly annoyed if it was true.

Councils (don't know which, could be some, could be all, could be none) or central government implement a policy with respect to traffic light phases which do not allow the most efficient flow of traffic through them. Meaning, the signals are designed to restrict the flow of traffic - either to keep average speeds down or to increase fuel consumption.

Certainly sounds far-fetched. But could it be true? Can anyone shed some light on this?

Edited by DrYazz on Friday 11th June 19:14

[It's a me]

It's all to do with causing congestion. Congestion = money making for the government.

[grumbledoak]

It's true. You'll occasionally see/hear a retired road engineer admit it, but it's sacking offence to let slip.

[Cock Womble 7]

Not sure about that, but there's a set of lights on a roundabout near here that I'm convinced change the amount of time you get on green according to the time of day.

[dilbert]

DrYazz said:

I am not sure where I heard or read about this, so do not know if it has any basis in fact.
But I would be thoroughly annoyed if it was true.

Councils (don't know which, could be some, could be all, could be none) or central government implement a policy with respect to traffic light phases which do not allow the most efficient flow of traffic through them. Meaning, the signals are designed to restrict the flow of traffic - either to keep average speeds down or to increase fuel consumption.

Certainly sounds far-fetched. But could it be true? Can anyone shed some light on this?

Edited by DrYazz on Friday 11th June 19:14

They also turn things into a nightmare if they are trying to get public support for a bypass/relief road.
It all leads into housebuilding programmes, and money.....

Edited by dilbert on Friday 11th June 19:19

[Balmoral Green]

It's a me said:

It's all to do with causing congestion.

Deliberate congestion creation is no tin foil hat conspiracy, it's real genuine policy.

[Ash1]

Cock Womble 7 said:

Not sure about that, but there's a set of lights on a roundabout near here that I'm convinced change the amount of time you get on green according to the time of day.

Lots of traffic lights operate like that. At a junction between a main road and a more minor road, the lights will often stay on green longer for the main road traffic. Some lights have sensors on top of them and may be on a timed cycle during the day, but at night change whenever a car is waiting there.

[collateral]

iirc I read a post on here from a flow adviser type person and they said the council asked them to look into congestion and then ignored their recommendations

[DrYazz]

It's a me said:

It's all to do with causing congestion. Congestion = money making for the government.

This is scandalous. Bigger even than Watergate and the Profumo affair.
I am going to investigate this with my local council and will get to the bottom of this.
Donal Mcintyre watch out - I am on the warpath. I will not let this lie.

[Graebob]

I think, genuinely, that I'd get to where I'm going a lot quicker if there weren't any other cars on the road.

[collateral]

Gaz. said:

It certainly flows better around here when the traffic lights aren't on, even from exciting a minor road.

Agree. There are a set in town which break all the time - people end up taking turns going through, so you never end up stopped waiting very long.

[anonymous-user]

Gaz. said:

It certainly flows better around here when the traffic lights aren't on, even from exciting a minor road.

Southampton city centre is a nightmare usually, to complete a simple 100yd section in rush hour can take 20mins easily. Went through there one day when the entire system had suffered a meltdown, took about 2 minutes...

[Backtobasics]

It's true. I've gone to the local news and the council about it. Without success. Got a meeting with the council in a couple of weeks, so will try again.

[davepoth]

Up until recently the government had discouraged "green wave" phasing, where the lights are set so that if you pass one at green while driving at the speed limit, all the ones in front will be green too. So yes, the government was advocating fking up the traffic lights in towns to annoy motorists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7998182.stm

[Balmoral Green]

There's one particular roundabout in Derby, which was given traffic lights. It used to be really busy and congested at rush hour, and the traffic light phasing worked a little to ease it. The lights were supposed to be part time, but now they have them on all the time, so 11am or 2pm, any time of day at all, and it's like rush hour full time all the time. When they are off, outside of rush hour, traffic flow is brilliant.

[baldy1926]

When Comrade Ken was mayor of London, before the congestion charge started he re-phased the lights to slow the traffic down.It was part of the scheme which included starting and leaving roadworks so that they slowed the traffic down. One of the worst examples was trafalger sq some of the lights had a 7 or 10 second phase so only 1 or 2 cars could get through.

[GTIR]

I was in a taxi the other night and as we were coming up to the traffic lights he started frantically flashing his lights. Even in my sozzled state I thought this odd and enquired why he was doing it.
"Makes them go green of course"





Tit.

[Tony Starks]

Symbolica said:

Gaz. said:

It certainly flows better around here when the traffic lights aren't on, even from exciting a minor road.

Southampton city centre is a nightmare usually, to complete a simple 100yd section in rush hour can take 20mins easily. Went through there one day when the entire system had suffered a meltdown, took about 2 minutes...

I used to hate trying to get anywhere in Southampton because of the lights and iirc it has the most amount of traffic lights per capita in the UK.

[FreeLitres]

GTIR said:

I was in a taxi the other night and as we were coming up to the traffic lights he started frantically flashing his lights. Even in my sozzled state I thought this odd and enquired why he was doing it.
"Makes them go green of course"

Don't some lights have motion sensors on that could be activated by the flash? Especially a quiet side road that needs to hold up traffic from a busy main road.

Edited by FreeLitres on Friday 11th June 20:06

[TheEnd]

GTIR said:

I was in a taxi the other night and as we were coming up to the traffic lights he started frantically flashing his lights. Even in my sozzled state I thought this odd and enquired why he was doing it.
"Makes them go green of course"





Tit.

That'll be the same type of driver that hangs a CD off the mirror to reflect back the laser from a speed gun.
Ha! PC Plod wasn't expecting that, eh?