Traffic lights cause traffic - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

sixto · #1 05-16-2012, 11:04 AM

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
87 300D^2

Graplr · #2 05-16-2012, 02:35 PM

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.

spdrun · #3 05-16-2012, 02:44 PM

Assuming drivers that aren't total morons: 2-way yield, one way clear. No full stop required unless there's cross traffic.

The Clk Man · #4 05-16-2012, 03:24 PM

I have 3 traffic lights for sale in my Antique Store.

MBeige · #5 05-16-2012, 03:34 PM

This principle has been implemented in built up areas in Manila.

What would happen to drivers who wanted to make a left but had to cross the opposite lane? Same question for U-turn options? More bridges have to be made for pedestrians.

Those coming into the major lanes from the side streets, will have to find the nearest point of exit so they can cross over. Driver attention now goes to finding a way out, instead of overall traffic flow.

A 4-way stop will only jam traffic more. A round-about might work, but there will have to be plenty of them.

Kuan · #6 05-16-2012, 05:11 PM

Turning four lane roads into two lanes with a center turning lane works. This way you're not caught behind left turners.

Hatterasguy · #7 05-16-2012, 08:37 PM

It will never happen, red lights are a cash cow for local municipalities.

The Clk Man · #8 05-16-2012, 08:41 PM

The Yellow light is the most misunderstood light in the traffic light.

t walgamuth · #9 05-16-2012, 10:40 PM

Not true!

yellow means go.....very fast!

When I was in Rome in the seventies there were virtually no stop lights. On very busy streets occasionally there would be a traffic island with a cop in it. Most streets you just entered the intersection with your eyes wide open and treated it as a two way yield. Worked fine...until it didn't I suppose.

Probablly a lot more traffic now.

roundabouts if properly designed are the ultimate. A lot of new ones are being built around here that are too small to really function correctly.

gatorblue92 · #10 05-17-2012, 08:44 AM

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.

Same thing in my old neighborhood in Miami. They are removing lights and 4 ways and putting in roundabouts. There was never an issue with traffic in these areas since they are all residential but I don't know how you avoid traffic lights at busy divided highway intersections.

Zulfiqar · #11 05-17-2012, 09:57 AM

I think more than 50% of american drivers, specially the ones in texas would need to retake the driving test if roundabouts were implemented, bubba in his pickup truck usually doesnt care about road laws, forget roundabouts, he would go over them.

Where I grew up, the second thing you are taught in driving is how to negotiate is a roundabout. First being the vehicle controls (and you are taught driving in a manual trans not auto)

cmac2012 · #12 05-17-2012, 05:19 PM

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.

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.

Fulcrum525 · #13 05-17-2012, 09:31 PM

I hate lights with a passion and would much prefer to see more round a bouts used in the U.S. I have become even more sensitive to this as i've been driving an manual a lot lately.

There is one light in-particular on my way to work which has always been a throne in my side. It has a bad habit of turning red for NO REASON at all. No other cars at this 3 way intersection and i'm on the main thoroughfare...no one hitting a pressure pad, no one coming the other way.....and it just goes red. WHY!!!!!

Skippy · #14 05-18-2012, 04:50 PM

What bothers me is waiting at a red light when there's no one coming. Perhaps instead of going crazy with adaptive traffic light control technology, they could just make a little change in the law that allows one to treat a red light like a stop sign if there's no one coming.

TwitchKitty · #15 05-19-2012, 06:47 PM

A few years back Cheyenne had almost no red lights and few stop signs, it worked. On the Gulf Coast after hurricanes when the infrastructure is down the drivers adjust after a couple days and four-ways work for red lights.

The status quo is a cash cow as pointed out by an astute young member. Not just red lights but insurance, medical, towing and crash repairs, etc.

I hate the suburban model, it sucks. Save me.

Pickup trucks used for commuters are asinine. The pickup driver who tailgates and values tobacco, beer and loud exhaust is a low form of life. The kids who die overseas to provide gas to support this ....