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Old 05-16-2012, 11:04 AM
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sixto sixto is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Eastern TN
Posts: 20,851
Traffic lights cause traffic

BBC News - Viewpoint: Is it time to get rid of traffic lights?

Quote:
The fatal flaw at the heart of the system is priority. Traffic lights are bad enough - they make us stop when we could go, they take our eyes off the road, flouting the most fundamental safety principle but they are only the symptom of a dysfunctional system.

The unseen spanner in the works is the idea of main road priority. It was introduced in about 1929 when the authorities were trying to work out how to regulate the new form of locomotion - the motor car.

Main road priority licenses main road traffic to plough on regardless of who was there first, including side road traffic and people on foot waiting to cross.
I generally agree but there are situations in which I'd never be able to pull out of a driveway onto a main road if not for the periodic break in vehicle flow. HOV lanes and their implied priority should die too.

Sixto
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