Quote:
Originally Posted by Graplr
I've been noticing a lot more round-abouts put in here instead of 4-way stops or stoplights. This is about the only thing I can see as an upgrade over a stoplight for alleviating traffic congestion. A 4-way stop would of course make it worse (ever seen what traffic is like when a stoplight goes out and just blinks red?) and of course having one way clear and the other a stop sign would cause major back-ups in the stop direction (assuming two major intersections).
So unless we go to every road being a freeway or having only round-abouts I don't see how we could get rid of stoplights.
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I still have family in OlyWA and they are going round-about happy in that town. I like them, much less wear and tear on brakes and clutches and I suspect far more energy efficient as well. They have put a few in at intersections that just didn't seem to benefit from or need it IMHO.
In the peninsula (Palo Alto, Redwood City, etc - area S. of SF) I'm seeing more and more lights that have motion detector switches for turn lanes. A great idea IMO, I hate waiting a turn light when if it were a stop sign, I could have safely gone shortly after stopping.
Likewise, I hate waiting for 30 seconds to a minute (along with about 10 or 20 other cars) while the lanes that have the green are empty except for the first 5 seconds of the green. Some sort of motion detector would be useful. Not sure how hard it would be to pull off, but if sensors indicated that no vehicle had gone through a green light for say 10 seconds, the light could cycle to its next phase.
OTOH, such a setup would play havoc with any timing done to assure smooth flow of traffic from one light to the next. I became a student of the presumed science of timing stoplights with some central computer system back when I used to sit in traffic as a cabdriver. They use to discuss the notion in Seattle years back but I gather it's real expensive to pull off.
I can't tell you how many times I've waited a minute and a half at a left turn light only to get hit with the yellow as I approach the next intersection after making the turn. It would never be perfect though, if you please the traffic from that left turn signal, you would likely interfere with traffic from another angle.
If the traffic lights of entire city were placed under the control of a computer system, they could have different modes - say for football games, concerts, morning rush hour vs. evening rush hour.