Traffic lights and speed bumps are damaging the economy and the environment, think-tank claims.
tinyurl.com/jmrl2ag (Telegraph)
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while the conclusion is over the top, It needs soie consideration. I know several junctions that function better when the lights are broken, and several where lights are superfluous (to the point of being ignored)
I even know one traffic light, that has NEVER been anything other than green for the last 25 years.
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Totally agree, we have a four way roundabout that has been lit up like Blackpool with 14 sets of lights. They have produced traffic queues that did not exist before their installation. There is definitely a policy to impede traffic flow. Some roundabouts need traffic lights but the majority don't, it is simple, give way to the right or get a big metal object in your right ear.
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>> There is definitely a policy to impede traffic flow.
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There must be. Some road "improvements" so patently have the oppostite effect that either these professional traffic planners are actually stupid, or else have ulterior motives for slowing traffic flow.
They are also arrogantly impervious to criticism or any arguments that a particular measure was a mistake. No traffic sign or light is ever removed as being unnecessary - the whole movement is an inexorable increase in clutter and regulation.
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The photo in this DM take on the story is remarkably like two junctions near me, one was a simple crossroads with traffic lights, the other was a standard (round ish) roundabout.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3414870/Eight-ten-traffic-lights-ripped-cut-jams-Report-says-regulation-traffic-detrimental-road-safety-economy-environment.html
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I know of one case that has to a deliberate slowing down. There is a huge roundabout as one approaches Thurrock from the M25. Thankfully I no longer have cause to use, but it made me cross every time I used it.
It's set that once you are on the roundabout, you then are stopped to let another road's occupants on and so forth.
I did try a couple of times to beat the system and came to conclusion that my Defender 90 simply could not come even close and although you may think, slow conveyance, few vehicles are driven to their real limits. Me, I'm a very naughty boy at times! I think if had a properly prepared rally car, you'd just be able to do it, but you certainly would still work hard.
In contrast, the London Colney roundabout is set that once you are on it, in normal circumstances you should get a green light all the way until you are off the roundabout.
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There must be a standard indoctrination for traffic planners. :-)
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I agree that speed bumps are nuisance but I wouldn't go that for traffic lights.
I think roundabout works where traffic is less. In peak hour with massive volume (especially from one side towards another), drivers become frustrated/impatient after waiting too long for a safe gap and start pulling out under risky condition.
Roundabout + traffic lights = probably the safest option (in peak traffic)
In low density traffic, roundabouts are fine.
In USA there are lots of T-bone type accidents* because they just just traffic lights at intersection without roundabouts.
* = it is much larger country with far more cars than us so I won't be surprised if someone points out statistically UK is probably the same.
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>> Roundabout + traffic lights = probably the safest option (in peak traffic)
>> In low density traffic, roundabouts are fine.
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I'd agree as long as they are "intelligent" lights designed to speed traffic round.
The worst of all are roundabouts that have one unlighted exit. The deliberate bottle-necking of traffic from the lighted exits means the vehicles on the unlighted have no choice but to take risks and just barge on and then queue in the wrong lane causing further frustration and hold-ups.
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...the lead traffic planner in Chesterfield caused chaos until he was savaged to death by his guide dog!
;-)
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At the end of the day the problem is that the are too many cars or not enough roads. We have either to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads or build a lot more roads. Traffic planning only help up to a degree and in most situations we have already reached something near maximum capacity.
In towns and cities the only realistic solution is restriction on vehicles and much better public transport.
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>> In towns and cities the only realistic solution is restriction on vehicles and much better
>> public transport.
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But removing deliberate obstructions and restrictions would help in the meantime.
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Marginal at best. One man's deliberate obstruction is another's pedestrianised zone.
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The local council seem to use them to direct traffic to other routes.
We have what used to be a main road here, running north / south with a T-junction that leads to a 1980's spur road to a supermarket and industrial estate.
The lights at this junction default to red for the main road and green for the junction to the spur, effectively giving the spur priority without the need to change the junction, road signs etc. It is a real pain because the change now leads to 1/2 mile queues at the lights and the spur road adds a couple of miles to the journey.
For busy junctions, roundabouts are my favorite, the get drivers to think about where they are going and allow drivers to proceed without significant hesitation if they are clear.
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Traffic tends to be self regulating, too many delays and people try a different route or method of travel. It eases off and people come back.
A bit like us, out during the week, at home at weekends when the folk who have to work during the week are cluttering up the shops and leisure venues, (and roads).
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>> At the end of the day the problem is that the are too many cars or not enough roads.
Agree, especially in the South East.
But even more fundamentally, why there are too many cars?
Because there are too many people.
Why there are too many people?
We all know the reason, isn't it?
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>> No traffic sign or light is ever removed as being unnecessary
It might seem like that but it does happen.
About 6 years ago a miracle happened and Labour lost control of Reading Borough Council. A Tory/LibDem coalition took over. This glorious summer lasted only a year before normal service was resumed, but in that time the good guys did manage to change three deliberately obstructed junctions, including removing one set of superfluous traffic lights. The project had further targets in the plan, but sadly the mooing voters of this fine town reverted to type the next time elections came around.
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The whole system wants looking at regarding traffic lights, bus lanes and 20mph limits in towns.
Our famous road in Hull is Castle Street.Stop start traffic through the day,to many traffic lights.We have been waiting for a upgrade to this road for the last twenty years.
Problaby another twenty years before it is sorted.They did some testing on this road regarding pollution.On of the most polluted stretch of road in Europe.
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The traffic does regulate itself. Regular commuters know when to squeeze through or ignore red lights. London traffic displays, I often think, a very concentrated deployment of high cognitive intelligence. Not quite always alas, and a glitch in one place can work its way through dense traffic getting worse as it goes.
I still remember London traffic fondly as second to none for ruthless, usually good-humoured practicality. We're a bit more bovine down here in the sticks.
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Try the new Elephant and Castle.
Actually, don't. Life is too short. Horrific.
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>> Try the new Elephant and Castle.
The evil and perversity of local authorities and London traffic 'planners' are only too well known to me Mapmaker.
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The 2009 trial they refer to is where I live.
When we moved here there was no issue with the cabstand junction, it just worked.
New hosing was built and the level or traffic increased, but not to a massive extent, however, the council had secured a large 7 figure sum of money under section whatever its called from the developers
The money was burning a hole in their pockets so they looked for anything to spend it on, and the result was a awful set of lights that created chaos. North Somerset tried re sequencing but nothing really helped, and one day the lights failed......and the traffic disappeared
After this the council decided to have a trial, and even up to the morning of the switch off they were having wobbles as they were being told that any accidents could be their responsibility, but after its success the lights were removed
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Around where I live (north east) the obsession with adding traffic lights to roundabouts is getting silly.
Wherever there is a busy roundabout, traffic lights come along and turn a something that was a minor annoyance into a traffic blackspot. Its now so blantant that you wonder what their agenda is?
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4 in 5 sets of traffic lights should be removed - Zero
