Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought red meant STOP - don't enter the intersection, etc. etc.
The current and increasing trend seems to be to tailgate the traffic through the lights long after red has appeared.
By stopping I run the risk of being rear-ended. (So that's it!)
Maybe I should get out more.
Oz (as was)
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Agree - not so bad around here, much worse as you get closer to London in my experience. Of course what'll happen is that sooner or later they'll install more traffic light cameras and/or alter the phasing of 'problem' junctions and that'll be something else for the anti-camera brigade to whinge about.
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I may surprise everyone here but traffic cameras, IMO are actually a good idea. Despite my near miss with one last November, I actually agree with the idea. The problem isn't with them but with the phasings on quick roads.
There is one set of lights (on the road I almost got done on), dual carriageway, NSL, cameras on the lights but the amber light is on for 3 seconds. I thought 3 seconds was the average for 30?
If the phasings were right, then I'd say get cameras on every single light.
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Adam
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When I first moved to San Francisco I was advised to always wait a couple of seconds before moving off on a green light to avoid getting t-boned by the car coming across the lights and running the red.
These days, with all the added cameras, its getting a lot better. But one still has to be careful.
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Another trend is for people who want to turn right at a traffic light controlled junction to enter the middle of the road before a right turn filter arrow has shown them it is their turn to go.
If it is a single car, this has the effect of fooling the traffic lights into thinking no one wants to turn right, so the filter doesn't come on and you are left with a fool sat in the middle of a junction, blocking traffic.
It's as if people just see a green light and think it applies to all lanes of traffic, regardless of direction.
Of course some people see green, think about putting their car in gear, then slowly move off just as the lights change back to amber then red. Arghhh....get your act together and move off in good time...it might even reduce a bit of congestion round our way!
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Society is dumbed down, and any thicko can drive, like it's their birth right.
Near me, we have a main road with a Homebase store, this forms a T junction, with the Homase up the | of the T.
What happens often, is people go down the I from homebase to turn right onto the __ , but there is a second set of lights for the cars on their left, these are tall lights with shrouds around the lamps, but people actually anchor up in the middle of the junction where there is no stop line and the lines are so obviously not meant for them. Its redicylous, and if you hoot, they go beserk!
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Unlike a lot of speed cameras I believe that the more cameras on traffic lights the better. It is positivley dangerous the number of cars which run red lights and efforts should be made to prevent it. It is not just at junctions but also at pedestrian crossings. It is particularly dangerous on two lane roads when the inner lane stops sheilding fast moving vehicles from view in the outer lane.
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If they stopped putting Gatso's on straight empty 40mph roads and then fiddling the statistics to prove how effective they are and camera'd every traffic light junction instead, there would be a positive benifit to road safety.
What do you think, No Dosh? ;-)
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Another trend is for people who want to turn right at a traffic light controlled junction to enter the middle of the road before a right turn filter arrow has shown them it is their turn to go. If it is a single car, this has the effect of fooling the traffic lights into thinking no one wants to turn right, so the filter doesn't come on and you are left with a fool sat in the middle of a junction, blocking traffic.
If you're talking about a filter light which is attached to the side of a main traffic light, and the main lights are showing green, then you are quite entitled to turn without waiting for the filter if the road is clear.
This does not apply to filters with their own red and amber lights above.
There is a traffic light controlled junction near me which is just like this and I have lost count of the number of drivers who sit at the stop line waiting for the right turn filter to come on regardless of the fact that the main green light is on and there is no oncoming traffic.
Also, at the junction I am talking about, the filter is activated by vehicles stopped in the middle of the junction waiting to turn, so if you're waiting at the stop line the filter just doesn't come on.
PP
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Peter Perfect
No, I did mean a main traffic light for right turn only-it has a sensor behind the stop line to determine whether to change green or not...car goes across and traffic light doesn't change as it thinks no one is there.
I agree on the filter lights though-very annoying when people wait-another contribution to rush hour congestion!
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They've changed a set of lights near me from 'take your chances' to 'monitored filters'. While it makes things better in the rush hour as often only 2 or 3 cars got through on one cycle, you seem to spend a awful long time staring at an empty junction waiting for your filter to come on. (These are of the arrow for all directions type) Also, the sensor appears to be very picky as to where you stop to activate it - I've seen many times out of the peaks it's missed a cycle althogether when cars have been waiting to turn.
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